Sparks Fly
by DamonsGurl95
Summary: My take on High School Musical 3: Senior Year. From the perspective of Taylor and Chad. There are two other stories before this one that were written after it (sorry for any confusion). If you want to read them in order it's Take A Chance On Me (HSM), One Thing (HSM2), Sparks Fly (HSM3), All In (Sequel)
1. Chapter 1

Sparks Fly

 **Chapter 1**

A/N: I've been working on this story for a while and have finally decided to start posting it. This is my version of High School Musical 3: Senior Year. Based on my favourite couple Taylor and Chad. All about what happened with Taylor and Chad throughout the film, not entirely canon particularly the timeline which I have mostly made on a day-to-day rather than week to week basis. Anything that you recognise from the film (dialogue) is not owned by me, it belongs to Disney and everyone involved in the film. Based off the song of the same name by Taylor Swift. I hope you like it :-)

Taylor McKessie was sat in the stands in the East High gym with her friends Gabriella Montez and Kelsi Nielsen watching her boyfriend take on the West High Knights with his fellow basketball teammates.

Chad Danforth was sweating like crazy desperate to get another championship under his belt before heading off to college in a few months time.

West High had clearly been putting a lot more effort into their training schedule in the last year in hopes of avoiding another loss to East High.

Taylor flinched as Chad was knocked to the ground for the third time that night. It was getting harder for Taylor to watch, she could tell that Chad's arms were starting to kill him after landing on them far too many times. The pain in Chad's eyes as he tried yet again to grab the ball and send it to Troy was making it difficult for Taylor to not run down the stands to Chad.

The siren went to signal the end of the half.

Taylor released a breath that she hadn't realised that she was holding as she watched Chad and the rest of the team head to the locker rooms.

"Are you okay Tay?" Kelsi asked concernedly.

"Huh, oh yeah, I'm fine. I'm just worried about Chad. He's in a lot of pain. I don't know if he'll be able to finish the game," Taylor explained worriedly.

"He's strong Tay, Chad will be fine," Gabriella tried to convince her best friend despite her own worry.

"I know, I just can't help but worry," Taylor explained.

Gabriella nodded her understanding.

Chad entered the locker room and felt like collapsing on one of the benches and staying there for the rest of the game. He had spent so long preparing for tonight's game that he hadn't thought about what would happen if they lost. He didn't think about the fact that West High would have been training just as hard if not more so in order to reclaim the championship.

Coach Bolton was right, they were seniors, if they didn't win this game they would be leaving their senior year as losers. Chad was determined in that moment to make sure that they would leave as winners no matter the cost.

Looking over at Troy Chad could tell that they were thinking the same thing 'it's now or never.'

Troy's speech wasn't exactly uplifting but he made good points.

Chad felt a fire burn in his stomach as Troy turned to him to lead the boys in their chant, now was their chance to be back-to-back champions and leave as winning seniors.

"What team?" Chad yelled.

"Wildcats," came the reply.

"WHAT TEAM?" Chad shouted louder.

"WILDCATS!" Came the more motivated reply.

"WHAT TEAM?"

"WILDCATS."

"WILDCATS…."

"GET YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME!"

They were back on the court with new found energy and determination.

Taylor smiled in relief when she saw the conviction in Chad's eyes, he was ready to win.

"Here goes everything," Kelsi said.

Taylor and Gabriella smiled at her, "now or never," they responded.

They watched on in awe as the team finally played with the energy that they started the game with, they were ready to take back the lead and win the game.

The guys were playing that a team on a mission rather than a team already defeated.

Chad felt proud of what they were managing to achieve after a rocky start, that few minute break was all they needed to come back stronger.

Then Troy was knocked off court.

Taylor and Gabriella watched on in concern as Chad went over to Troy to make sure that he was okay.

Taylor heard Chad's Dad yelling that it was a foul and worried that Chad might retaliate, basketball wound him and his family so tight that whenever an umpire didn't dish out the appropriate infringement they got angry to get even.

"You alright?" Chad asked Troy who just looked out into the distance.

Taylor gasped as yet again Chad was knocked off the court. Relief flooded her as he jumped back up ready to make the last few moment count.

Taylor, Kelsi and Gabriella gasped as Troy threw the ball to 'Rocket Man' a few moments later.

Relief flooded their bodies as the kid managed to get the ball through the hoop with little effort.

They had done it, the East High Wildcats had managed to take home another championship, back-to-back champions.

The girls, along with the rest of the watching East High crowd rushed down the bleachers to congratulate the team.

It didn't take long for Taylor to reach Chad who without hesitation lifted her up and spun her around in his excitement.

"We did it Tay," Chad said as Taylor's feet touched the ground once again.

"I'm so proud of you Chad, you deserve this win after everything that you put into preparing," Taylor smiled.

Chad pulled Taylor close and kissed her softly on the lips.

The moment was ruined by Troy and Gabriella though, Troy grabbing Chad's shoulder in a friendly manner.

The couple pulled apart and glared at their friends.

"Hey I'm just paying you back for all the times you interrupted us," Troy said to Chad who laughed it off.

Taylor just shook her head goodnaturedly.

"Why don't you two head to mine, I'm sure my parents can give you a lift, for the party and we'll meet you there," Troy suggested.

Taylor and Gabriella agreed, they knew that the boys liked to enjoy a few minutes on their own after a game to reminisce on what got them there.

After quick kisses with their boyfriends Taylor and Gabriella found Troy's parents with Gabriella's Mum and Chad's parents. Taylor's parents were both lawyers and working a big case meaning that they couldn't be there to celebrate.

"Ready to party?" Troy's Mum asked.

The girls grinned, "always," they responded.

Gabriella's Mum gave them a lift to Troy's house and decided to stay and chat with the other parents, much to Gabriella's annoyance, there was only one thing her Mum would be talking about tonight.

Half an hour into the party Taylor and Gabriella were getting worried, Troy's house was only ten minutes away from the school and they only ever took eight minutes to get ready after a game. They decided to give them ten more minutes before they called and checked on them.

It was eight minutes later when they heard faint yelling coming from the front of the house, they couldn't really hear much because of the music but it didn't sound very good.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Unsurprisingly Chad and Troy entered the party moments after the yelling out front had disappeared.

Taylor and Gabriella were jumping up and down after Gabriella revealed what her Mum was telling the other parents, that Gabriella had gotten into Stanford.

Taylor was really proud of her friend who had spent so long not knowing what her future held and now it was ready in front of her.

They were interrupted when Troy and Chad came over pulling them into their respective arms.

"You were great," Taylor smiled.

Chad chuckled, "you've got to quit saying that."

"It's true though," Taylor teased.

"Can we talk?" Chad asked uncertainly.

Taylor looked at him worriedly.

It wasn't like they hadn't known that this day was coming, the day that their futures were being laid out in front of them and they had to choose what they wanted.

Before Taylor could respond though, Zeke and Jason dragged Chad and Troy away.

"Is everything okay?" Gabriella asked as she saw a look of fear cross Taylor's face.

Taylor shrugged uncertainly, "honestly Gabi I have no idea."

Gabriella pulled Taylor into a tight hug, "we'll make it work."

"I hope you're right," Taylor said back as she hugged Gabriella a little tighter.

Chad came back over to them a few minutes later.

"Can I steal this beautiful girl away?" Chad asked as the girls pulled apart and looked at him.

"Of course, I have to go find Troy," Gabriella said as she began walking away.

Chad reached his hand out to take one of Taylor's, she gratefully entwined their fingers.

Neither of them were ready for the conversation that they were about to have, but if they didn't have it now they would only end up hurting more in the long run.

They were able to sneak away from the craziness of the party and made their way over to the swings.

Taylor sat down on one while Chad took the other, their hands only apart for the few seconds that it took for them to sit down.

Chad held both the chains for their swings in his hand as Taylor entwined her fingers with his.

"Next year things are going to change. Whether we like it or not Tay we're going to be in different states," Chad started softly, "we have to figure out how we're going to make this year work knowing that we're not going to be together next year."

Taylor could feel the hurt she felt showing on her face and hated it, if Chad wanted to go to college a single man that was his choice not hers to make.

"Well then we might as well end it now Chad. I can't go through this year being with you knowing that you want to be broken up by the end of the year," Taylor said, the pain dripping through her words.

Chad looked at her in shock for a moment, "Tay that wasn't what I meant."

Chad grabbed Taylor's other hand and pulled her to sit on his lap, "Tay I don't want to be without you. All I meant was we won't be spending as much time together next year because we'll be at different colleges."

Taylor looked at him sadly, "I don't want to be away from you for so long."

"Tay I promise that we'll make it work. I'll finally get a car and drive to see you whenever I can or I'll fly so we can spend more time together. We'll Skype and talk everyday I promise," Chad promised.

"Chad promise me that we'll stay together no matter what, that we'll make it work. I don't want to be in a relationship with anyone else. I only want you Chad. I love you," Taylor said for the first time.

Neither of them had ever said those three magic words to each other before.

Chad's response was to kiss Taylor with as much love as he could without having to say the words.

Taylor smiled at Chad and then went back to her own swing.

They intertwined their fingers as they began to swing back and forth.

For the first time this year they both felt relieved that they were on the same wavelength, they both wanted the same thing, to be together no matter the challenges that were bound to face them.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The following day Taylor and Gabriella met up out front of the school.

"Hey, where'd you go to last night?" Gabriella asked.

"Hey, sorry Chad and I had to leave. My parents got home early so Chad's parents drove us there for a small celebration. They were really proud of Chad," Taylor explained.

"That's awesome Tay," Gabriella smiled widely, "I'm so happy that your families get along."

Taylor laughed, "it's amazing really. Our families are completely different but they are get along really well."

Taylor and Gabriella laughed as they walked into the school together. They headed to their lockers to get their books.

They headed to homeroom, unsurprised that their boyfriends arrived just as the bell rang.

Taylor was sat behind Chad and couldn't help but smile at his obvious thrill about the win yesterday. Even Ms Darbus seemed happy about it.

"...top-to-bottom championship," Taylor only heard the end of Ms Darbus sentence.

"That would be back-to-back Ms D," Chad grinned.

"Whatever the case it was a grand slam well done," Ms Darbus said.

Taylor smiled widely at his enthusiasm and leaned forward to whisper in his ear, "great job wildcat."

Chad grinned at her as he watched Taylor walk to the back of the classroom where she revealed the blackboard which listed the various groups that were formed for the lead up to the end of senior year.

Chad smiled as he listened to Taylor talk, he loved hearing her voice. Taylor always had a way with words.

"This years theme is the last waltz but don't be the last to pick up your tickets," Taylor said as she slapped her pointer stick on Chad's desk.

Chad jumped a little, he hadn't expected that.

"...questions?" Taylor asked.

Chad's attention was immediately on her at that point.

"Yeah, what's the lunch special in the cafeteria today?" Chad asked.

Everyone laughed but Taylor didn't hesitate in answering, "New York Deli."

Taylor smirked as the laughter turned against Chad.

"Anyone else?" Taylor asked but Ms Darbus interrupted her.

Taylor sat back down behind Chad who turned around to smile at her.

Taylor just smirked as Ms Darbus spoke again.

Neither of the couple focused much on this though, they weren't exactly into the 'theatre'. Although Sharpay's last comment made them both want to groan, Taylor face palmed in disbelief. They had all hoped that the summer had changed Sharpay, at least somewhat, but no such luck.

"Perhaps even a one woman show," Sharpay suggested.

At Darbus announcement that Kelsi had managed to sign up almost their entire homeroom everyone turned to glare at Kelsi.

Taylor considered Kelsi a friend but she was not happy about this. Her senior year was already completely jam packed and now she had to add a musical to that list.

Chad wasn't thrilled about it either, he was already going to have trouble spending time with Taylor based on her schedule, a musical would make their alone time impossible to find.

Taylor slowly gathered her things together for chemistry while Chad all but ran from the room with Troy for maths.

Free period was after their first classes and no one was looking forward to it. The last thing that they wanted to do in their senior year was to be in a musical. A fact that they made very clear to Kelsi at the start of free period as they all walked onto the stage.

They each had their own complaints to make to Kelsi and Kelsi wasn't happy about any of them.

"We've got a yearbook to edit so no," Taylor said looking from Gabriella to Kelsi.

"Sorry, jeez I just thought since it was the last show everyone would want to do it," Kelsi snapped.

Everyone started talking at the same time again.

"No it's not that we don't want to do it, there's just no time," Taylor said.

Gabriella tried to convince everyone but to no avail.

"No I just don't think it's a good idea," Taylor tried.

They all sighed when Troy said he would participate. If Troy would do it then everyone else would, something that Gabriella had counted on.

Taylor and Chad shared a look and shrugged, it was the last chance that they would have to do something fun like this.

"Okay, how long will it take?" Taylor asked Ryan who grinned at the prospect of having a full cast instead of just him and Sharpay.

"What the heck is the show about?" Chad asked realising that he wasn't going to be able to get out of this, plus he figured he would be able to spend time with Taylor.

"You Mr Danforth," Ms Darbus said as she walked onto the stage.

Everyone looked at her in shock, they were couldn't believe what they were hearing, particularly Sharpay who looked like she might faint.

"Me?" Chad asked in confusion.

Ms Darbus clicked her fingers and Chad threw her his basketball, "the spring musical is all about you."

Then Sharpay really did faint, Taylor had to try really hard not to laugh.

"Hold on if it's about me then can I have my ball back please?" Chad asked as he walked towards Ms Darbus.

Ms Darbus tossed the ball back, "it's about all of you and all of you will create it. A show about your final days at East High. We'll call it 'Senior Year'."

The chatter began again.

"Playing a role is easy, playing yourself is much harder," Ms Darbus said, "Kelsi will compose, Ryan will choreograph and I will direct. Now I have some very important news from the Juilliard School in New York City, America's pre-eminent college for the performing arts. And for the first time in East High history Juilliard is considering four of you for one available scholarship. Miss Sharpay Evans."

"I'm already packed," Sharpay gushed.

"Mr Ryan Evans," Ms Darbus continued.

"Dance," Ryan grinned.

"Miss Kelsi Nielsen," Ms Darbus went on.

"They got my letter?" Kelsi asked in shock.

"They certainly did," Ms Darbus enthused, "and lastly Mr Troy Bolton."

After that announcement no one was listening to Ms Darbus, they all just laughed at looked around in confusion.

The confusion continued as Troy said that he had never even heard of the school, how could someone be up for a scholarship if they hadn't even applied and didn't even know about the school.

"Line up down stage please," Ms Darbus ordered.

Everyone did as they were told and wondered what Ms Darbus was going to make them do.

"Let's begin with Mr Danforth," Ms Darbus began, "step forward please. Your future?"

Chad grinned, "that's easy it's U of A, hoops all the way."

"Miss McKessie," Ms Darbus continued.

"I'm gonna be the president of the United States of America," Taylor said confidently, "well I'm gonna finish college first of course," Taylor continued as she looked at Chad.

"Martha Cox you're late," Ms Darbus said, the others turned to watch as Martha entered the stage.

"I'm sorry Ms Darbus I just thought that maybe we could use a few more dancers," Martha said as she opened the garage door.

A large group of seniors came rushing onto the stage much to the relief of the current occupants of the stage, they didn't want to be the only ones in this musical.

"Mr Bolton," Ms Darbus called, "Mr Bolton your future?"

Troy snapped the Juilliard booklet closed as he thought about what to say, "well yeah, uh, um, uf, you know um, uh, I'm thinking about."

Gabriella stepped forward to save Troy from having to answer, "uh, I think we should stage the perfect prom."

"Golly gee how adorable," Sharpay said, "what do I want? Gosh I wouldn't know where to begin but I know where it ends. Centre stage, a single spotlight, a huge marquee that reads Sharpay Evans."

Everyone, including Ryan and Ms Darbus rolled their eyes.

The bell rang signalling lunch and Ms Darbus released the seniors.

Troy and Gabriella headed off with the other seniors, leaving Chad and Taylor behind.

Chad took Taylor's hand in his free one and they walked slowly towards the cafeteria.

"So, are you sure that we want to do this?" Chad asked.

"Chad I'm sure that I want to do anything that I can to spend more time with you. If this is what it takes then I'm all in," Taylor smiled.

Chad nodded, "then I'll put in the effort. Spending more time with you is all I want."

Taylor smiled as they walked to join the queue in the cafeteria.

This year wasn't exactly going to plan but at least they were able to fit in more time together.

Chad grabbed two New York Deli Platters for Taylor and himself as Taylor led the way to their usual table where Gabriella, Troy, Kelsi, Martha, Jason, and Zeke were already waiting for them.

The rest of the day was pretty dull by all accounts and spent in a variety of emotions as reality set in that exams were fast approaching.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The following day Taylor was waiting near the bus stop for Gabriella, umbrella sitting just high enough for her to see when Gabriella got off the bus. Her phone kept going off, Chad was desperate to see her before school but Taylor wasn't in the mood to speak to him. Taylor had dropped more hints than she cared to admit about prom and Chad still hadn't asked her. Until he did she was ignoring all phone calls and texts from him, it might seem childish but he still hadn't said the magical three words yet either so Taylor felt that it was her right to be annoyed with her boyfriend in that moment.

Taylor was pulled from her thoughts when Gabriella got off of the bus. Taylor walked over to meet her best friend, holding her umbrella to keep the sun at bay, she wasn't in the mood for sunburn. The two walked together towards the school.

"Hey Tay," Gabriella smiled.

"Morning sunshine," Taylor smiled in response.

"So you going to rehearsals today?" Gabriella asked.

"Ah do I have a choice?" Taylor questioned, "you got us into this."

Gabriella laughed.

"Which I don't understand considering you may not even be here for the show," Taylor tried to understand, "have you told anyone you're up for Stanford's freshman honours program?"

"No," Gabriella said simply.

"Well you're going to be hearing from them any day," Taylor reminded, "hello?"

"Taylor these things take time," Gabriella laughed as she reached for her ringing phone in her bag.

Taylor sighed and rolled her eyes, she couldn't understand why Gabriella wasn't more excited. Ever since they met Gabriella had only ever spoken of wanting to go to Stanford.

Taylor could only hear part of the conversation but she knew that Gabriella was talking to Troy.

"Hey," Gabriella smiled, "what?"

The pair looked up to see Troy standing on the roof of the school.

Taylor couldn't believe how cute that was but she had to remind her best friend of the possible consequences.

"This has two weeks detention written all over it," Taylor said although she was smiling so Gabriella knew that she wasn't that worried about them.

"I have to go," Gabriella said laughing as she started to walk away.

"Have fun," Taylor smiled.

Taylor stood there for a while wondering why Chad couldn't be more romantic like Troy.

Taylor was interrupted in her thoughts by Martha running over to her with a massive grin on her face. Taylor couldn't help but smile back at her friend even though she had no idea why they were smiling.

"Hey Martha, you look happy," Taylor offered.

Martha laughed, "you have no idea! Guess who just asked me to prom."

Taylor thought for a moment but didn't have to think hard when she spotted Jason a few metres away wearing a top that read 'Jason + Martha = Prom'.

"Jason?" Taylor asked.

Martha nodded enthusiastically, "YES!"

Taylor grinned and the two hugged tightly.

"I'm so happy for you Martha," Taylor said trying to stay enthusiastic.

Martha saw the uncertainty in Taylor's eyes and knew instantly that Chad still hadn't asked her.

"He'll ask you Tay," Martha tried to reassure her.

Taylor wasn't convinced, "I don't know Martha, he's had plenty of chances to, yet he still hasn't. Has he even bought tickets yet?"

Martha sighed, it wasn't like she could lie to Taylor, she was a terrible liar, "no he hasn't."

"Maybe he just doesn't want to go. I wish he understood how important it is to me though," Taylor sighed.

"He probably just doesn't think he has to ask, you are a couple, he probably just assumes that you'll go with him without having to ask," Martha offered.

"Maybe," Taylor said as the bell rang.

"Don't stress about it, he'll ask," Martha said as they headed to their separate classes.

Taylor walked into the room and sat down, a few minutes later Gabriella joined her.

Taylor put on a smile not wanting to bring her friends mood down when she clearly looked over the moon about something.

"What did you get up to?" Taylor asked.

Gabriella smiled, "Troy was so sweet asking me to prom. He asked me to help him choose a tux and then said that he needed to look good cause I'd be in a beautiful dress and then he asked me and we danced the waltz around the roof. Oh Taylor it was so romantic."

Taylor tried not to feel disappointed that her boyfriend's friends were going out of their way to be romantic and he still hadn't asked her.

"That sounds amazing Gab," Taylor tried to not let her smile falter.

"It truly was," Gabriella smiled widely.

The rest of the morning leading up to free period was uneventful and Taylor was feeling more miserable about prom as the day went on. Every where she went everyone was talking about the amazing ways in which they had been asked and she was yet to be.

Free period was pretty uneventful to start with as well. Ryan was running the day's rehearsal with various dance steps.

Part way through one of his instructions Troy and Chad came running through the group carrying clothes that were clearly not their own. Moments later two of the new basketball team members ran in with only towels on.

Taylor and Gabriella joined in with everyone as they laughed at the two innocent and embarrassed boys.

"Yearbook opportunity!" Gabriella exclaimed.

Taylor grinned and reached into her bag for a camera, "ooh photo op."

Taylor quickly knelt in front of the boys, "smile," she said as she snapped the picture.

Laughter still filled the air.

Gabriella and Taylor looked at the photo and grinned, it was a perfect shot.

The laughter started to die down a little as Ms Darbus approached.

"Bold choice gentlemen," she started, "we all must have the courage to discover ourselves however at East High we will discover ourselves whilst clothed. But welcome to our drama club and our spring musical."

Everyone cheered slightly, laughter still present, particularly with Chad and Troy.

"Yeah, welcome," Troy laughed.

Ms Darbus approached Chad and Troy, "the stage crew can use your help during detention painting sets."

The stage was filled with "oooh" as Ms Darbus dealt out the punishment.

"Through a sheet over them," she finished, "Ryan."

Ryan took charge again of the rehearsal, "alright guys let's go back up to the top, uh Jason why don't you come down here and help me out."

The rest of the day was uneventful. By the end bell even Taylor was ready to go home.

"I'll see you tomorrow Tay, don't worry he'll ask," Gabriella smiled as they hugged.

Gabriella was swept away to Troy's truck with the man himself before Taylor could respond.

Taylor really hoped that Chad would make his move tomorrow so that she wouldn't have to sit around waiting while everyone around her got excited for prom.

That night Taylor again ignored all phone calls and texts from Chad. She spent the night curled up on the couch with her dog watching movies. At some point Taylor fell asleep and her Dad put a blanket over her when he got home, her Mum had flown to New York that night.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

For Taylor and Gabriella the next morning at school was spent working on the yearbook.

They were sorting through their draft pages to work out where each page would go, who would feature on each page, what pages the different clubs would be on, and what pages would feature the teachers. It was a lot of hard work and it was quite tiring.

They were released from their work momentarily when Chad and Troy came into the room. Chad dropping a tray of cookies on Taylor's work station, Troy just making his way to Gabriella.

"Ooh oh," Taylor said in surprise.

"Those are compliments of Zeke," Chad informed, "careful they're still hot."

"Okay," Taylor said with a smile as she looked down at the cookies.

"But he doesn't know they're gone yet, so you have to eat all of the evidence," Troy said as he walked over to wrap his arms around Gabriella.

"Kissing up to the yearbook editors, it's a very smart move," Gabriella smiled up at Troy.

"Well Chad's hoping for two pages of himself, maybe even a third page just for his hair," Troy joked.

The two couples laughed, Taylor thought how true that comment probably was.

"Hey what's right is right," Chad joked as Taylor shrugged in agreeance.

Taylor looked back through the pages waiting for Chad to finally get the message.

"Oh hoops, by the way could you take me after school to check out the tuxedo?" Chad asked as he wrapped an arm around Taylor's shoulders.

Troy just nodded.

Taylor turned to look at Chad, holding his arm as she did so.

"Tuxedo? For what?" Taylor asked, she decided to throw him a bone, he clearly wasn't going to get the hint anytime soon, her smile was genuine and hopeful.

"For prom," Chad answered as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh hunny," Taylor said looking away from Chad, "if that's what you call an invitation you'll be dancing with yourself," Taylor snapped, knocking Chad's basketball from his arm.

Taylor looked over to Gabriella, pain in her eyes before shaking her head and walking away.

Chad was left standing there in shock. It didn't take long for him to realise that this was why Taylor had been ignoring his calls and texts for the last few days.

Troy and Gabriella laughed at Chad's look of surprise. Gabriella knew that would be the outcome and whatever Gabriella knew, so did Troy.

By the time lunch came around Taylor was feeling more miserable than ever. She hadn't been able to concentrate in any of her classes since the encounter with Chad. She was starting to think that maybe it was a sign that they wouldn't be a couple going into their college years. Chad not having said the most important words to her since Taylor had said them was making her think that maybe their relationship was doomed.

Martha, Kelsi and Gabriella were worried about Taylor and tried to do everything that they could to make her smile again. They were each already plotting Chad's demise in case he messed up again and broke Taylor's heart for good.

They were just hoping that Chad would grow up and ask Taylor to prom properly.

Meanwhile Chad was stood on the upper floor looking over at Taylor with her friends below. He had no idea what he was going to say but he knew that he had to make an impression if he didn't want to lose Taylor. Knowing why she was upset with him and ignoring him wasn't helping Chad at all, he thought it would help but all it was doing was making him more nervous. He owed Taylor a massive apology for being so clueless for so long.

Troy came over pulling Chad from his thoughts.

"You ready?" Troy questioned.

Chad mumbled something that sounded like 'yeah' but Troy couldn't be sure as he registered the terror on Chad's face.

"It's now or never man," Troy said, "the garden club is rooting for you," Troy informed Chad as he showed him a bunch of flowers that had clearly been put together by Troy himself.

Chad reached for the flowers but Troy took them out of his reach and instead motioned for Chad to hand him his basketball in return for the flowers.

Chad reluctantly handed over his basketball in exchange for the flowers.

"I'm going in," Chad said

"Go and get her," Troy said.

Chad began to walk towards the stairs his heart pounding in his chest, he couldn't understand why he was so nervous about this. He hadn't been this nervous asking Taylor out in the first place. They were already a couple it shouldn't be this nerve wrecking.

"I can't do this," Chad said and began turning to run back up the stairs, his nerves getting the best of him.

Troy wouldn't let Chad chicken out though, "woah no you are doing this now."

Troy meant well although he was being forceful about it for his own reasons, he didn't want to have to listen to Gabriella talk about how sad Taylor was because Chad was being an idiot.

"How long have you been up there?" Troy asked.

"Who cares," Chad responded.

"Right," Troy agreed.

Slowly they made their way over to the girls who had finally gotten Taylor smiling and laughing.

Martha and Kelsi had noticed Chad and Troy's approach and hoped that Chad was going to be smart and not leave Taylor confused for yet another day.

"So ah, hey," Chad said, his voice barely above a whisper, "I was kind of wondering if you maybe go with me."

Taylor spun around in her seat to look at Chad a sarcastic smile on her face, "oh hey Chad they have tuna surprise on the menu it's good, really good," Taylor said as she took a bite for herself.

Chad looked around to Troy feeling like now was not a good time to ask Taylor, "dude."

Troy just shrugged nonchalantly.

Chad looked back to Taylor trying to summon what little courage he had left, "Taylor, hey, I'm asking you to prom."

"Oh I'm sorry I can't hear you cause it's so loud in here," Taylor said, she turned to her friends, "did you hear something?"

"No," the three girls responded.

"Neither did I," Taylor agreed.

Chad looked to Troy desperately for help, "dude."

Troy sighed, "alright, excuse me, excuse me everybody" he rose his voice louder to be heard over the chatter, "ah, YO."

Taylor jumped slightly and Chad stared around at all of the faces that suddenly looked their way.

"My friend has something to say," Troy explained.

Chad glared at his friend, as if it wasn't hard enough to ask Taylor when it was just the two of them, now the whole school was listening.

Chad looked around trying to keep his composure and once again summon any possible courage he could find.

Chad looked at Taylor desperate for her to say something to save him, all she did was shrug. Chad sighed he was going to have to make the best of it.

Chad turned around and stood on the table behind him, raising his arms and voice Chad tried to smile genuinely, "Taylor McKessie, will you please be my date to the senior prom?"

The cafeteria was filled with 'aww' but Chad didn't hear it, all he heard was his heart thumping so fast that he was sure it would exit his chest cavity.

Taylor quickly turned to her friends who created a semi-huddle around her.

It was all for show though, they never spoke a word, already knowing what Taylor's response would be and wanting to give Chad a small taste of what Taylor had been dealing with the past few days, the unknown.

Taylor turned out of the huddle and stood up in front of Chad.

Feeling slightly giddy Taylor smiled, "I'd be honoured."

Chad felt his heart relax a little as he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in relief and stepped down from the table, handing Taylor the flowers and pulling her into his arms lifting her off the ground slightly as she jumped a little in joy.

In that few seconds of their hug Taylor's fears left her mind and she was able to finally be excited about prom.

Chad was just relieved that she had said yes there and then, he had been sure that Taylor would turn around and tell him that she would think about it then leave him hanging for a few days like he had unintentionally done to her.

They pulled apart and Taylor was in another huddle with the girls talking about how romantic Chad's actions had been.

Chad on the other hand wanted to get out of there, that was way too much for him.

"Dude I need to shoot some hoops," Chad said as he reclaimed his ball from Troy.

"You nailed it man," Troy grinned.

That afternoon they had free period and were rehearsing 'A Night to Remember' which was the big prom number for the musical.

As much as the guys were having to play nervous they were truly looking forward to prom, especially after seeing their partners in their dresses, knowing that the ones for the real prom were sure to be even more amazing.

After the rehearsal everyone was looking forward to prom, whether they were willing to admit it outloud or not.

Troy and Gabriella were sat on the steps on stage and Chad and Taylor joined them, sitting two stairs below.

"That was so much fun," Gabriella gushed.

"The real thing is going to be so magical," Taylor agreed.

Chad and Troy just smiled at how excited their girlfriend's seemed.

Taylor stood up and reached her hand out to Chad, "come on I have something I want to show you."

Chad smiled and took Taylor's hand, standing up himself.

The couple walked backstage to the dressing rooms and found Taylor, Gabriella, Martha, and Kelsi's dressing room, thankfully empty.

Taylor let go of Chad's hand and walked over to her bag which was sat on a chair in front of her mirror dresser. Reaching into her bag Taylor pulled out a small box that was wrapped in velvet.

Chad looked at Taylor, intrigued to know what was in that box.

Taylor handed the box to Chad and smiled, "open it."

Chad smiled back and did as he was told.

Inside the velvet wrapping was a small rectangular box, inside that box was a piece of purple fabric.

Chad looked at Taylor in confusion, "what's this?"

Taylor tried not to laugh, "it's the colour of my dress."

Chad still looked confused.

"For you to be able to get a matching tie and a corsage," Taylor explained.

"Oh right, of course," Chad responded, "how long have you had a dress picked out?"

"A while," Taylor responded vaguely.

Chad raised an eyebrow.

"Okay I've had it for a few months, Hailey helped me pick it out when she was last home," Taylor explained.

Chad nodded, "of course your sister would choose purple."

Taylor laughed, "oh hunny I chose it. Hailey wanted pink."

"Good choice babe," Chad said trying to make up for his slip.

"So I'll see you tomorrow?" Taylor asked.

Chad chuckled, "of course you will Tay."

Taylor smiled and kissed Chad's cheek, grabbed her bag, and left.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

A/N: The end of this chapter is based on the extended edition of the film so if you don't recognise the dialogue that would be why. If you would like to see that scene before or after reading this chapter I have a link at the end of the chapter for you. This is the longest chapter that I have written so I hope you like it. Enjoy :-)

The weekend passed in a blur of colour as Taylor, Gabriella, Kelsi, and Martha spent Saturday shopping for the prom. They purchased everything that they could possibly need, and more just in case they changed their minds on how to have their hair and what makeup to use. They met up with their partners for lunch and were then dragged to suit stores because the guys couldn't decide what suit's they should get.

The girls spent Sunday doing each others hair and makeup, trying to work out how they wanted to look for the prom.

Monday morning came and for Taylor and Gabriella that meant an early start in the yearbook room.

Taylor had arrived earlier than she and Gabriella had planned, with the intention of being able to see Chad before class started.

When Gabriella did arrive Taylor was sat working through some of the almost completed pages on the computer, trying to determine what font would look better.

Gabriella walked past her waving an envelope in Taylor's face to get her attention.

Taylor immediately sprung out of her seat, "what is this?" She asked looking at the envelope which Gabriella happily handed to her.

Taylor opened the envelope and gasped as she read the letter, "Stanford University's freshman honours program cordially invites you," Taylor couldn't help the squeal that escaped her lips, "you and 29 other students are invited to an early orientation. Oh my gosh that's huge!"

"Yeah," Gabriella agreed, although not too enthusiastically.

"Your Mum must be so proud," Taylor expressed.

"Taylor you're the only one that knows," Gabriella admitted.

"Oh, but you've already accepted right?" Taylor questioned, "I'm throwing you a going away party, this is huge!"

"You can't get rid of me that easy," Gabriella informed her best friend as she reclaimed her letter, "plus we've got a yearbook to do remember? Back to work."

Taylor smiled at her, "okay," she agreed and immediately went back to work on the computer.

The bell sounded for first period and Taylor sighed, in her excitement for Gabriella she'd forgot to watch the time and would have to wait until free period to see Chad.

Waiting for free period to come around was frustrating Taylor more than she cared to admit. It wasn't like she was excited about the musical she just wanted to see her boyfriend who had spent Sunday playing basketball with the other senior's from the East High team. Apparently they all missed training and being on the court so they would go to a park and work at their game.

In her haste to get to the theatre for free period Taylor nearly ran into the back of Chad, who was thankfully aware of her oncoming assault (thanks to Zeke, who was stood in front of him, letting him know) and spun around just in time to pull Taylor into his arms.

At first Taylor didn't know what had happened and then she realised that she had landed in Chad's arms and hugged him back tightly.

"Sorry I couldn't hang out on Sunday," Chad apologised as they walked hand in hand to the theatre, Zeke following behind them with Jason.

"That's okay, it actually worked out well, the girls came over and we worked out how we're going to do our hair and makeup for prom," Taylor explained.

Chad smiled, "well I'm glad that you didn't miss me much."

Taylor laughed, "who said I missed you?"

Chad smirked, "I'm pretty sure you made that obvious when you collided into me in your haste to get here," Chad chuckled as they entered the theatre from backstage.

Taylor blushed a little, "so I might have missed spending one on one time with you but it doesn't mean that I have to spend every waking moment thinking about you."

Chad grinned, "so I'm in your dreams too."

Taylor smirked, "does Troy dream about you to my love?"

Chad glared at Taylor.

Zeke and Jason were trying really hard not to laugh at their banter.

Ms Darbus entered the theatre at that moment, seizing any conversation that was about to happen.

"Ryan, Kelsi, the floor is yours," she said simply as she made her way down into the audience seating to watch the rehearsal.

Ryan and Kelsi exchanged a soft smile before Kelsi made her way into the dugout where the orchestra would be on the night of the musical. Ryan, in that time, had Gabriella and Troy get ready to run through their romantic duo.

Taylor had noticed the look that had passed between Kelsi and Ryan and made a mental note to question Kelsi about it later, even though she was pretty sure that she already knew what had occurred between them.

Ryan had Troy and Gabriella start off sitting on the piano that Kelsi would be playing, while the sets were being finished.

Taylor walked over to Ryan once the sets were finished, "it looks awesome."

Ryan smiled gratefully.

Troy and Gabriella rehearsed their song again, this time with the sets in place and more of the band members to make the music.

Taylor was in charge of making sure that the costumes would be in the right place at the right time during rehearsal. She spotted a clown outfit that was clearly from another musical but decided to use it to have a bit of fun at Chad's expense.

"Make sure that Mr Danforth gets this will you," Taylor instructed one of the stage hands who reluctantly agreed, knowing that he was being used.

Chad saw the costume and knew that he didn't have a choice but to put it on. He reluctantly did so before heading onto the stage to find Ryan and take out his annoyance on him.

Taylor watched on and knew that she had to save Ryan from getting punched by her boyfriend for something that he had no part in.

Taylor quickly made it on stage before Chad could do anything that he would regret and took his arm, dragging him off stage. All the while laughing at how ridiculous he looked and knowing that he would get his revenge.

Chad glared at Taylor and sat on one of the props while Taylor tried to control her laughter long enough to watch the end of Gabriella and Troy's performance.

A performance that ended with a lot of applause.

"Bravo, great rehearsal, pity the actor that has to follow you," Ryan gushed.

"I believe that actor is you Mr Choreographer," Kelsi informed him.

"Oh really?" Ryan teased.

"Ok let's take five and run it again," Kelsi suggested.

"Yes," Ryan agreed enthusiastically.

"Ryan," Sharpay called from behind the curtains.

"Ah, that's five everybody," Ryan said slightly nervously.

Taylor followed Troy and Gabriella off stage.

"You guys were amazing!" Taylor gushed.

Gabriella blushed slightly, "thanks Tay."

"What happened to Chad?" Troy asked as he watched his friend slump away off stage.

"That might be my fault," Taylor hesitated, "I thought it would be funny to see him in a clown costume, someone must have drawn the tears on his face though, that wasn't a part of my plan."

"He doesn't look happy," Gabriella warned.

Taylor shrugged, "he'll get over it and get revenge somehow, this was just payback for making me wait so long before asking me to the prom."

Troy and Gabriella shared a concerned look.

Taylor sighed and walked over to her boyfriend.

"Here's your real costume," Taylor smiled as she indicated 'normal' looking clothes on the rack that had Chad's name pinned to them."

Chad shook his head at Taylor, "you'll regret this," he said dramatically.

Taylor rolled her eyes, "you made me wait for a long time before asking me to prom, this was my payback."

Chad sighed, "I said that I was sorry."

"Actually you never apologised," Taylor reminded him.

Chad pulled Taylor into his arms, "I am sorry for making you wait Tay. I just figured that I didn't need to ask you because we're already a couple. It was my mistake and I'm really sorry."

Taylor smiled up at him, "I know you are and I forgive you. Just don't assume things next time."

"I promise I won't," Chad smiled.

They shared a soft loving kiss before Chad pulled away.

"After school I'm going with Troy to find a part to fix his truck so I won't be able to hang out with you," Chad told Taylor.

Taylor smiled, "no problem at all, I was actually going to tell you that I'm studying with Gabriella after school so I can't hang out with you either."

Chad smiled, glad that he wasn't cancelling on any dates that he didn't know about.

That afternoon after school Taylor and Gabriella caught the bus to Gabriella's house ready for a massive study session, even though Gabriella was already in Stanford she still had to take exams with her friends in a few days. Gabriella would be going to Stanford the following week, after the exam period was over.

The week after that was the senior prom and then the spring musical, then graduation all in one week.

Taylor and Gabriella were both feeling the pressure and were relieved to finally have a study session without distractions, namely their boyfriends.

Despite them not physically being present they were a major topic of conversation, particularly Troy.

Taylor had rummaged through her bag to find some of the yearbook photos, they decided that they had done enough study and could focus on something different for a while.

Taylor through the pages onto Gabriella's bed as she got on herself.

"You should be celebrating!" Taylor exclaimed, "not keeping it a secret."

"The program starts at Stanford next week, I'll miss everything," Gabriella explained.

"No you won't," Taylor tried to console, "just the show. You can come back for prom and graduation. Girl your future is calling you loud and clear you have to grab it while you can."

"Taylor," Gabriella sighed, "would you stop being my Mum for a second and just be my friend. You know maybe I like it here. Maybe I want to stay in Albuquerque as long as possible," Gabriella began to smile as an idea occurred to her, "maybe I'll just stay here next year."

"WHAT?!" Taylor yelled in shock.

"Shhhhh," Gabriella quickly interrupted.

"Huh stay in Albuquerque that makes no sense," Taylor whisper snapped.

"And why do I always have to make sense?" Gabriella questioned uncertainly, "I'll still go to Stanford just maybe in a year. You know I can take classes at U of A next fall or something."

"Did you say U of A?" Taylor asked in surprise a shocked laugh escaped her lips before realisation struck as to why Gabriella would suggest such a thing, "ah hmm. It's obvious that you're not thinking clearly because you're thinking about Troy. I mean I get it that he's your first crush but."

Taylor looked at Gabriella as pain engulfed her face, Taylor realised her mistake and hated herself for it, for hurting her best friend so carelessly.

Taylor got up and walked around to sit beside Gabriella and trying to console her.

"I'm sorry," Taylor said softly as tears filled her own eyes with the realisation that she was in a similar dilemma to Gabriella about her future and her love, "I meant relationship. But there will be other guys, I promise."

Taylor felt terrible for hurting her best friend but when she realised that Gabriella's Mum was standing behind them she knew that she had to leave and give them a chance to talk.

"Um, I ah, I ah, I, I'm late for dinner," Taylor stuttered as she quickly got up and left, "I'm sorry."

Taylor walked out the front door and sighed, that was not how she envisioned the evening going. She was just glad that she hadn't left her phone in Gabriella's room otherwise she'd be walking home.

As if having read her mind Chad's face appeared on her screen.

Taylor wiped the tears from her face and answered, "hey."

"Hey, what are you doing right now? We just finished dinner at Troy's so I can get dropped off at yours," Chad suggested.

"Actually would your parents mind coming to get me from Gabriella's? We were studying and things didn't end well. I'm sitting on the curb in front of her house," Taylor explained.

"Yeah of course, I'll just tell them," Chad said and Taylor heard murmuring in the background, "we're on our way. What happened? You sound like you've been crying."

"I have," Taylor said simply, "I'll tell you when you get here."

"Okay well we're right around the corner," Chad promised.

True to his word two minutes later Taylor was getting into Chad's parents car and thanking them for taking a detour.

"Anytime hunny," Chad's Mum offered.

"Thank you," Taylor said again.

"Did you want to just stay over tonight? We can pop into yours in the morning to get new clothes," Chad suggested.

Taylor nodded, "Mum and Dad were working late tonight and I don't feel like being alone."

"You are always welcome in our home Taylor," Chad's Dad informed her.

"Thank you," Taylor said gratefully.

They got to Chad's house and headed straight to his room upstairs.

"Alright spill, what happened?" Chad asked as he closed the door and sat by Taylor on the bed.

"We were talking about college and Gabi suggested that she would take classes at U of A next fall and put Stanford off for a year. I told her that she shouldn't give up her future for a guy," Taylor explained.

Chad pulled her towards him so that he could hold Taylor and she would feel supported.

"That wasn't even the worst part," Taylor hesitated.

"What do you mean?" Chad asked worriedly.

Taylor sighed, "the worst part was that I wasn't even really criticising Gabi, I was criticising myself because I was thinking the same thing for the same reason."

Chad looked at Taylor surprised, "I didn't know you were thinking of putting off going to Yale."

"I have thought about it, a lot. I just don't know what to do. Yale is everything that I've worked for but," Taylor stopped unsure if she should go on as tears filled her eyes once again.

Chad squeezed her hand in reassurance, "but what Tay?"

"Yale is everything that I've worked for but you're everything that I want," Taylor said softly.

Taylor was feeling very insecure about this conversation, she hadn't felt this way about anyone before, just like Gabriella, and she had never thought about giving up her dream for a dream that she wanted so much more, until now. It was all very confusing for her, Taylor didn't know what she was going to do next year but she knew that she wasn't going to give up her relationship with Chad to get it.

"How was dinner?" Taylor asked, desperate to change the subject so that Chad wouldn't feel obliged to talk.

Chad didn't want to respond, he wanted to be sure that Taylor wasn't choosing him over her dream but he knew that it was pointless to argue with her when her mind was made up. It was also pointless in getting her to talk it out with him, that usually ended with Taylor more confused and Chad feeling like he'd just hiked up the side of a steep mountain.

"Dinner was good, talked about the Redhawks a lot. Troy's unsure about U of A lately and tonight he was clearly not into the discussion as much as he was last year," Chad explained.

Chad didn't know if he should acknowledge to Taylor that he was also unsure about U of A, it was a long way away from Taylor.

"Troy and Gabriella are worried about being one thousand miles from one another," Chad started.

"And we'll be two thousand one hundred miles apart," Taylor finished softly.

Chad nodded and held Taylor tightly to him. Taylor accepted the warmth that the hug offered her as she snuggled into Chad's side and hugged him as tightly as she could.

It was the first time that either of them had acknowledged the distance that would be between them next year. They were both terrified about being apart for long periods of time and they were both thinking long and hard about where they wanted to go to college. They both wanted to pursue the dreams that they had had since they were little kids yet at the same time they wanted to pursue new dreams, dreams that required them to at least be in the same state for longer than a few days or a few hours.

One thing was certain Taylor and Chad were just as indecisive about their futures as Gabriella and Troy were.

A/N: Here's the extended scene: video/x8atjl_high-school-musical-3-extended-edit_shortfilms


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

A/N: This chapter is a lot shorter than the others simply because it is a fill in chapter. I find exams boring and for that reason I didn't want to relieve them by writing about it. Chapter 8 is being posted today as well to make up for it. Enjoy :-)

The following morning Taylor and Chad woke up feeling like they had to make a decision about their futures as soon as possible. In two days they would be facing their first exam, after exams they needed to have made their decision about college. They were both feeling the pressure and the stress but neither was willing to admit it to the other.

The rest of the week they spent studying everything, Taylor and Gabriella had drawn up study schedules for their friends to ensure that they would all be as prepared as possible for the lead up to the exam week and during the exam week. All of the seniors were completely stressed out so Ms Darbus had only booked in one rehearsal during the exam week to take the pressure off somewhat.

One night Taylor was studying on her own at home wishing that the year would slow down, maybe even stop, at least for a moment. It was too stressful. She actually jumped when her phone rang.

"Hello?" Taylor yawned as she answered.

"Tay? You okay?" Chad's voice responded.

"Huh, oh, yeah, I'm just tired. I've been studying for chem," Taylor sighed.

"I'm coming over," Chad said.

Taylor laughed, "Chad it's late, you can't."

The doorbell rang downstairs.

"Too late," Chad laughed.

Taylor rolled her eyes and went downstairs to let Chad in.

"Hey," Taylor smiled letting Chad in.

Chad grinned and pulled Taylor into his arms, "hey you."

They shared a loving kiss before heading upstairs to Taylor's room.

"Where's your parents?" Chad asked.

"Well Mum was meant to get back last night but her flight got delayed for the third time this week and Dad had enough of the flight company so he drove off an hour ago to get her. They won't be back for a few days, Dad managed to get a few days off work and they're going to take a road trip before coming home. Plus both Mum and Dad want me to have my space to study without them around to distract me," Taylor explained.

"So distraction is my job," Chad teased.

Taylor rolled her eyes, "no, you're going to study with me. I really need to ace this exam Chad."

Chad sighed, it wasn't his plan but he knew how important this was to Taylor so he wasn't about to let her down.

"Okay, where do we start?" Chad asked.

The rest of the night was spent studying before they decided to call it a night and fell asleep cuddling.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

The following week the stress levels had dropped significantly with exams finally out of the way.

Taylor and Troy were feeling sad though, Gabriella had left for Stanford and they didn't know when they would see her again. Troy was certain that she was coming back for prom and the musical but Taylor wasn't so sure.

Chad had spent the last few days trying to make both of them happy, taking Taylor out to dinner and movies and helping Troy fix his truck so that he could visit Gabriella, and he had almost succeeded until their free period and rehearsal. Ms Darbus just had to go and ruin all of his hard work.

The seniors were all sat in the auditorium audience waiting for rehearsal to start even though none of them, with the exception of Sharpay, really wanted to rehearse without Gabriella.

Taylor was sat half on Chad's lap, half on the seats armrest, Chad's hand on her leg.

"It'll be okay," Chad said softly.

"I know, it's just not the same without Gabi," Taylor whispered back.

"Here goes nothing," Taylor said softly to Martha who was sat in front of them.

Martha nodded, this was going to be a painful rehearsal.

"Alright everyone attention please, listen up," Ms Darbus began, "as some of you know Miss Montez is no longer available to us. However the show must indeed go on. So Sharpay you will do Gabriella's duet with Troy. Tiara are you ready to step in for Sharpay?"

"Those sparkling shoes are impossible to fill Ms Darbus," Tiara stated.

"Oh don't worry, Kelsi, will work with you," Sharpay declared.

The murmurs around the room were clear that they no one was enthusiastic anymore.

"Come on people, let's rise to the occasion. We're all pros here. Let's do it for Gabriella. K?" Sharpay spoke to the entire room.

"Kelsi, Troy, Ryan, to the piano," Sharpay instructed.

Chad squeezed Taylor's hand in reassurance that everything would work out. Taylor stood up and took Chad's hand helping him stand and they walked towards the stage ready to rehearse, as ready as they could be with the mood of the room at an all time low.

After school Taylor and Chad went shopping for food. Chad's parents had agreed to let him stay with Taylor at her house until her parents returned from their getaway. Last night they had called to tell Taylor that they would be returning in time for graduation, a week away. Taylor was happy for her parents, they had spent so many years putting her and her sister first and now they deserved their chance to be alone and work on their relationship. Plus she was looking forward to spending some alone time with Chad that would hopefully help both of them work out what they wanted their futures to look like.

Taylor had to admit that she was glad that her parents might not make it in time for the musical, she wasn't exactly artistically inclined and didn't want to make a fool of herself in front of her parents. It also meant that they would miss the prom night which Taylor was a bit disappointed about, she just hoped that her sister would be there.

Although it did mean that Chad's parents would be taking a LOT of photos on prom night to make up for Taylor's parents missing out. That was Chad's promise, he also promised that his parents would email copies of the photos to her parents so that they wouldn't entirely miss out.

The following day was mostly spent in rehearsal, Ms Darbus had to work really hard to replan the musical without Gabriella which meant that the musical was high priority and with exams over their other teachers couldn't disagree.

Taylor and Chad were unimpressed as they watched Sharpay trying to be Gabriella.

"What does she think she is doing?" Taylor asked.

Chad shrugged, "how would I know?"

"I don't know, Chad, but it certainly looks like she's still trying to get her claws into Troy. He and Gabi aren't even broken up," Taylor said in frustration.

"Tay, he's not an idiot. He doesn't even like her. Plus he'd never do that to Zeke or Gabi," Chad said convincingly.

"I just hope that he's smart enough," Taylor said.

Chad couldn't help but understand Taylor's concern. Sharpay was like a dog to a bone, she would continue to pursue him until she was certain that she had no chance.

Taylor just didn't want to see anyone get hurt.

Chad was starting to worry about Troy too.

When Troy asked him to go pick up their tux's that day after school Chad agreed without hesitation. He didn't want Troy to get swallowed into a hole.

"Is Taylor excited?" Troy asked as they drove back to his house after getting their tux's.

"Yeah I think so. Taylor's always stressed about things it's hard to tell," Chad joked.

Troy laughed, "Gabi mentioned that Taylor was more stressed about prom than her, Kelsi, and Martha combined."

"Really?" Chad asked surprised.

"Yeah, she's really looking forward to it Chad. Don't mess it up. Taylor's the best thing that ever happened to you man," Troy said as they pulled into his driveway.

"I know," Chad agreed.

Troy grabbed his tux and they went into the house to find Troy's Mum in the kitchen.

Meanwhile Taylor was with Kelsi and Martha picking up their dresses for prom, getting their final fittings. Assuming that they didn't need any further alterations they would be able to take their dresses home today otherwise they would be back for them tomorrow. The seamstress had promised to make sure they would be ready for them seeing as prom was only two days away.

Taylor's sister Hailey had promised that she would be there for the pre-prom party at Chad's house on prom night. Until then Chad's Mum was filling in for Taylor's family. She was with the girls getting their dresses.

Taylor was the last to walk out in her dress, a long flowing purple dress with diamantes covering the bodice half and scattered throughout the rest of the dress, that looked stunning.

Chad's Mum gasped when she saw Taylor, "oh sweety you look stunning," she said with tears in her eyes, "Chad won't know what to do with himself. You chose a fantastic colour."

Chad's Mum smiled adoringly at Taylor, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Taylor, Martha and Kelsi thought that her actions and words were adorable. It was clear that she didn't want to lose Taylor as a 'daughter' anytime soon.

Without hesitation Taylor walked over to Andrea and hugged her as tightly as she would her own Mum. Andrea was surprised at first but then she hugged Taylor back just as tightly. When they pulled apart Andrea was fussing over Taylor's dress and worrying about creasing it.

The seamstress reassured her that the material the dress was made from wouldn't crease.

After the girls were happy that their dresses were perfect the seamstress put each dress into a dress bag and handed them over to the girls.

Andrea then treated them to dinner at a local restaurant, something that the girls weren't to lose Taylor as a 'daughter'.

Without hesitation Taylor walked over to Chad's Mum and hugged her tightly, like she wished she could her own Mum.

"Thank you so much Mrs Danforth for bringing us and staying. It really means a lot that I have someone to rely on when my Mum is away," Taylor said.

Chad's Mum smiled, "hunny you've known me long enough to use my actual name. If I get my way you'll be in our lives for a very long time, there's no need for formalities."

Taylor laughed good-naturedly as they pulled apart, "thank you Andrea."

"You are most welcome my dear," Andrea smiled.

Andrea then proceeded to fuss over potentially having creased Taylor's dress in their hug. The seamstress was kind enough to explain that the material the dress was made of was not easily creased by a hug.

After they had finished their fittings the seamstress put each of their dresses into a dress bag. The girls paid the remainder of what they owed and followed Andrea to the car.

"How about dinner girls? I know a lovely restaurant not too far from here," Andrea asked.

Kelsi and Martha looked at Taylor uncertainly.

"You don't have to take us to dinner, we were just going to order in and have a movie night," Taylor explained.

"I insist. You girls showed me what it would be like to have a daughter and I couldn't be more grateful that you let me be apart of your afternoon," Andrea explained.

Taylor couldn't think of any reason to say 'no' after that and neither could Kelsi and Martha so they agreed that dinner in a restaurant would be a lovely way to end the day.

That night after dinner they were all full and happy, it had been a great afternoon.

Andrea took Martha and Kelsi home before heading to Taylor's house.

"Thank you for tonight I really appreciate it and I know that Kelsi and Martha do as well," Taylor said gratefully.

"Hunny it was no problem at all. Like I said earlier it gave me a chance to feel like I had a daughter. Two years after Chad was born I gave birth to a stillborn baby girl and nearly died from a variety of complications. I never tried to have a baby again after that. I was happy to have a safe and healthy son and didn't want to risk not getting to see him grow up," Andrea informed Taylor.

"I'm so sorry I had no idea," Taylor said softly.

"It's okay sweety I accepted it a long time ago. We told Chad when he was ten, he was at an age where he wanted a live-in playmate. From that point forth he did everything he could to make us proud, he never realised that we would be proud of him no matter what," Andrea smiled.

Taylor smiled back, "Mum and Dad always said the same thing, it never stopped me from aiming high and doing everything that I could to be the best I could be and make them proud of who I was rather than who I wasn't."

Andrea smiled knowingly, "it seems that Chad had the same thought process."

Andrea pulled the car into Taylor's driveway. They watched the front door open as Chad came out to greet them.

"How was dress shopping?" Chad asked.

"It was a dress fitting Chad," Taylor corrected.

"Oh right, so you got the dress?" Chad questioned.

"Yep," Taylor grinned.

"What did you have for dinner hunny?" Andrea asked her son as she grabbed Taylor's dress for her.

The three of them walked inside as Chad responded, "I ate at Troy's, he had a rough afternoon."

"Oh, what happened?" Taylor asked.

"Gabi isn't coming home for prom, the musical, maybe even graduation," Chad said uncertainly, he hadn't wanted to bring it up around his Mum knowing that Taylor would be upset herself about the news.

To her credit Taylor kept it together in front of Andrea who only stayed long enough to hang Taylor's dress up in the spare room with strict orders to not let Chad see it until she was in it on Friday night.

After Chad closed the front door on his Mum Taylor felt the tears in her eyes.

She and Martha were friends before Gabriella came to East High but they were never as close as she and Gabriella became. Taylor and Gabriella had been talking about prom since summer and now they weren't going to be able to spend the night together and get ready. It seemed that all of the things she and Gabriella had talked about doing together this year was being taken from them.

Chad hugged Taylor tightly.

"I'm so sorry Tay. I promise we'll have an amazing night no matter what I have to do to make it the best night of your life. Well maybe the second best cause our wedding night has to be the best," Chad promised.

Taylor laughed lightly, "you're gorgeous."

Chad didn't know how to react to that statement but figured he'd better just go with it.

That night Taylor felt like everything would work out in the end, if Gabriella couldn't be at prom she would make sure to make her feel as included as possible in the lead up.

Taylor was fast asleep curled up beside Chad with her head on his chest. Chad had an arm around Taylor and was struggling to fall asleep.

His mind kept replaying the words that he said to Troy earlier that evening, words that he didn't know if he actually meant or if he said them to try and make Troy feel better.

" _She's not coming back man," Troy informed Chad._

" _She gonna miss the prom?" Chad clarified._

" _No she's not coming back at all," Troy said in annoyance._

" _Wow, that's lousy man," Chad responded, "it really is."_

 _Silence passed between them before Chad spoke again._

" _Hey man, everyone knows that you don't bring the girl with you after High School," Chad informed his friend, "look Gabriella is already one step ahead, as usual. Right now you've got to snap out of it dude. She's off at Stanford. Hey, and look, I am right there with you. Okay, Taylor's heading to Yale and you and me are going to U of A. It's a whole new ball game."_

" _Maybe I don't see my life as a ball game anymore man," Troy explained._

" _Look, you're going to go to the prom with us, you're going to be with all of your friends and you're going to have a good time," Chad told Troy, "alright?"_

" _Oh I don't plan on missing my prom," Troy said conspiratorially._

Chad sighed, what did he mean when he said that you don't take the girl with you after high school? Chad couldn't understand why he had said those words to Troy. He wasn't planning on going to college if he couldn't still be in a relationship with Taylor. At least he didn't think he was. Chad was starting to understand Troy's confusion. Chad had been focused on basketball for so long that he hadn't really thought about a future without basketball. Then again since he fell for Taylor he hadn't thought about a future without her either. He knew that Troy was struggling with having to choose between basketball and Gabriella. Now Chad was realising that he might have to choose between basketball and Taylor, he didn't know what he would do if he were put in that position.

Chad looked down at Taylor and knew that he wouldn't be able to choose basketball ever again. Taylor would always come first to him. They were going to be over two thousand miles from one another but they would make it work. He would fly to her as often as possible and knew that Taylor would do the same. Chad was going to do whatever it took to keep his relationship with Taylor.

The more he thought about it the more Chad realised that basketball had been his second love for a long time. Taylor would forever be his first love.

Now he just had to figure out when he would tell Taylor that he loved her.

A/N: For those of you who like a visual, here's a list of the girls prom dresses. I wanted their actual prom dresses to be different than the ones that they wear in the musical. The next chapter will be the longest in the entire story (over 7500 words) so be prepared :-)

Taylor's dress: .

Kelsi's dress: .

Martha's dress: g01. kf/HTB1IsVkIXXXXXX_


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Today's the day, PROM DAY!

Chad had spent the last two days trying to figure out the best way to tell Taylor how he felt, what he would say, when he would say it, where he would say it, how he would say it or show her. He hadn't realised how complicated it could be. Taylor managed to say it weeks ago without any problems yet he was having a massive internal struggle.

Prom day pretty much meant that no senior students would be at school. The girls would be getting their hair and makeup done while the boys would be enjoying a day off from school.

Taylor had invited Kelsi and Martha do spend the day at her house getting ready, Taylor's parents were still away and Kelsi and Martha's parents were working so none of them would be missing out on anything. Plus the girls promised to keep them in the loop all day.

Taylor just had to figure out how to get Chad out of the house. With Troy driving to surprise Gabriella, Taylor had to talk to Jason, Zeke, even Ryan into hanging out for the day. That way the girls would hopefully be able to spend the day without distractions.

Getting the other guys to agree was easy enough, getting Chad to leave, on the other hand, was the difficult part.

"Tay come on this is meant to be the second best day of our lives why can't we spend it together?" Chad asked for the umpteenth time.

Taylor sighed, she couldn't repeat herself for the umpteenth time.

Thankfully the doorbell rang giving her an excuse to not have to repeat herself.

Taylor opened the door to find Chad's parents.

"Mum, Dad, what are you doing here?" Chad asked.

"Your father is taking you and the boys out for the day to distract you all. I'm here to help the girls get ready," Andrea informed her son.

"Did you know about this?" Chad asked Taylor.

"No I didn't," Taylor said, "although I am grateful to have your help Andrea."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world my dear, besides you need a Mum today," Andrea said.

Taylor felt beyond grateful to Andrea for everything that she was doing for her and her friends. Taylor was loving how Chad's family had become her own while her parents were away. Chad's parents were doing everything that they could to make sure that Taylor had people, other than their son, who cared about her and could look out for her where her parents couldn't.

"Come on son, your friends are waiting for us," Chad's Dad (John) said.

Chad groaned but agreed to go with his Dad.

Chad pulled Taylor into a tight hug, "I can't wait to see you tonight all glammed up."

Taylor smiled into Chad's chest, "I can't wait to see you in a tux."

They slowly pulled apart and kissed softly, lovingly.

John cleared his throat and they pulled apart.

Chad left with his Dad and twenty minutes later Martha and Kelsi arrived.

"Let's get this partay started," Martha grinned.

Taylor and Kelsi laughed, Andrea shook her head smiling at the girls.

The first thing they did was put music on, Taylor's Dad had installed a surround sound system for the entire house, there was an option to have the music play in every room or only select rooms. Taylor had it set for every room so that no matter where in the house they went they would hear the music.

The next thing on their to do list was to set up a table where they would do their makeup, a table where they would do their hair, and a table where they would do their nails. Taylor also had foot baths that had massaging capabilities set up in front of the couch so that they could have some relaxation therapy before getting ready. She had also set up face scrubs for facials, even made sure that there was enough for Andrea to relax with them as well.

While the girls were having a relaxing morning the boys were playing two-on-two basketball with Chad's Dad umpiring. Chad and Ryan versus Zeke and Jason.

"How come the girls didn't invite Sharpay to their girly day?" Zeke asked as Chad dribbled the ball in front of him.

"I don't know man," Chad said trying to focus.

"Taylor offered to invite her, Kelsi asked me if she would want to, and I asked Sharpay if she wanted to," Ryan began, "let's just say she was against the idea."

"Why?" Zeke asked.

Chad sighed and grabbed a hold of the ball, clearly they weren't going to play basketball anytime soon.

"She's Sharpay, everything's her way or the highway," Chad said in annoyance.

"Who cares anyway? It's not like she gets along with the girls," Jason said.

"I care, I don't want her to be alone while everyone else is having fun," Zeke said.

"Trust me Sharpay is having plenty of fun on her own," Ryan informed them, "she's having a spa day at an actual spa resort with our Mum. She's being pampered by others and not having to lift a finger. She hates doing her own hair and makeup, our parents pay a stylist to do it all for her. I love my sister but she's spoilt and nothing will change that."

"I don't believe that," Zeke said, "she's a better person than you all think."

Chad, Ryan, and Jason shook their heads at Zeke's obsession.

"Wait did you say that Taylor, my Taylor, offered to allow Sharpay into their girls day?" Chad asked in shock.

"Your Taylor?" Ryan teased.

Chad stuttered over a few words before he finally whispered, "it was a slip of the tongue."

"No it wasn't," John teased, "you've been talking about Taylor in that way for a long time son you just never realised it."

Chad blushed a little and looked away.

"So what are the girls doing anyway?" Jason asked, changing the subject.

"Taylor said something about a homemade spa day," Chad said, happy for the change of subject.

"What the heck is a homemade spa?" Zeke asked.

"It's probably more social and fun than an actual spa day," Ryan said.

"Facials, manicures, pedicures, massages, hair, makeup," John explained.

At the bewildered looks that he received from the boys John chuckled.

"Andrea did the same thing before our prom. With one difference us guys had to give out the massages and be on hand to help wherever possible. It was a long day," John explained.

"Thank goodness Mum didn't know about it sooner," Chad grimaced.

Zeke, Jason, and Ryan shivered at the thought.

John chuckled.

"Tay do you have green polish?" Martha asked.

"In my room, second shelf on the right," Taylor instructed.

Martha ran up the stairs holding her hands out in front of her so as not to damage the clear undercoat.

"Kelsi that colour looks amazing on you," Taylor said as she examined Kelsi's finger nails.

"Thanks Tay," Kelsi smiled.

"We should send pics to Gabi after all our nails are done, she wanted us to document the whole day for her," Taylor suggested.

"That's a great idea!" Andrea exclaimed, "I'll take some pictures once all your fingers are done and then your toes and your hair and then when you're in your dresses, she won't miss a thing."

Taylor and Kelsi grinned gratefully.

Martha came back a few minutes later, "Taylor your collection is huge, how many different shades do you have?" Martha asked gobsmacked.

Taylor laughed, "yeah my Mum and Hailey spent most of my life trying to make me girly, apparently having every shade of every colour of nail polish is supposed to help that process."

"Yeah apparently this one never wanted to be a girly girl," a voice behind them said.

Taylor let out a squeal and jumped up rushing into her sister's arms.

Hailey hugged Taylor tightly.

"I'm so glad that you're here," Taylor smiled.

Hailey let Taylor go and smiled back, "I promised didn't I?"

Taylor laughed, "yes you did, but you also promised to be at my 16th birthday party and you weren't, all of my pre-school plays, need I go on?"

Hailey sighed, "I know I broke a lot of promises but I was never going to break this one. Besides I bought you awesome gifts every time I missed something."

Taylor grinned, "yes you did."

"Speaking of gifts," Hailey smiled as she pulled a small box from her bag and handed it to Taylor.

Taylor grinned as she opened the box, she gasped, "Hails this is yours, Mum gave it to you for your prom."

"I know, just as Grandma gave it to Mum and her Mum to her etcetera. Mum and I spoke and agreed that you should be the one to have it next. Besides I have no plans to have a family like ever," Hailey said.

Taylor shook her head, "thank you but you might change your mind about that when you find the right guy."

"Tay not even Dean Guyer would get me to say yes to having a family," Hailey laughed.

Taylor shook her head, her sister was in love with Dean Guyer.

Taylor had Andrea help her put on the diamond gold bracelet, her nails were still drying.

"Have you boys bought the girls anything?" John asked.

"What do you mean? The corsages?" Zeke asked.

"Well yeah, but also a gift, something that they can keep forever to remember this day and night that will be the best day of their high school lives," John explained.

"We hadn't thought about that," Ryan admitted.

John chuckled, "I didn't expect you to have. Get in the car I'll take you to the shopping centre and you can find something that you think the girls would like."

Chad, Zeke, Jason, and Ryan got into the car after John.

"Are we getting something for them to share or something each?" Jason asked.

Chad, Zeke, and Ryan shook their heads.

"Something each," John spoke, unlike the boys John found Jason's ignorance to be charming.

Two hours later the guys left the shopping centre with a present for each of their dates.

By the end of the same two hours the girls were completely ready for the prom, other than their dresses.

It was 4pm and they were upstairs in Taylor's room getting into their dresses while Hailey and Andrea cleaned up downstairs.

By 4:30pm the girls were ready and the doorbell rang.

Hailey answered the door after strict instructions to the girls to not come downstairs until she called their names, she wanted the boys to get a proper surprise.

Hailey smiled at each of the boys all dressed up in their tuxedos and looking very sharp.

"I don't think I've seen smarter dressed boys in my life. Not even the boys at my prom dressed as sharply as you," Hailey complimented.

"Thanks Hails," Chad said, "guys this is Taylor's older sister Hailey. Hailey this is Zeke, Jason, and Ryan. You know my Dad."

Hailey smiled gratefully at Chad for the introduction, she never would have been able to figure out who each of the boys were.

"Did Sharpay end up here?" Ryan asked.

Hailey shook her head, "I heard Kelsi say that she was meeting you all there."

Zeke frowned at that but let it go.

"Are you ready to see your beautiful dates?" Andrea asked as she descended the stairs.

The boys eagerly nodded.

"Alright, firstly we have…" Hailey was interrupted by the doorbell ringing.

Sighing Andrea opened the door to a girl decked out in pink.

"Sharpay! I didn't think you were coming!" Zeke exclaimed happily.

"Yes well my mother insisted. Are you ready to go? I'm not waiting. The limo is waiting for us," Sharpay said sharply.

Zeke just nodded enthusiastically and followed Sharpay out to the waiting limo.

"That boy is going to get his heart stomped on if he's not careful," Andrea said shaking her head.

"He's blindly following the devil I think we're past the point of no return Mum," Chad informed.

"Okay enough about that, can we get back to your lovely dates now?" Hailey asked.

As if they'd been pulled back to a trance the boys nodded enthusiastically.

"Alright, take two. The first gorgeous lady to come down those stairs is none other than Martha Cox," Hailey introduced.

Jason moved to stand in front of Chad and Ryan.

Martha slowly made her way down the stairs towards Jason.

Jason's jaw fell as his eyes fell on Martha.

Martha smiled and blushed as Jason took her hand at the bottom of the stairs.

Jason kissed Martha's cheek, "you look beautiful," he said as he slipped the corsage around her wrist and handed her a medium sized box.

Martha looked at the box in confusion and opened it to reveal a silver plated photo frame with the words 'prom night' written at the top in diamontes.

"I thought you could put a photo in it to remind you of what will hopefully be an amazing night," Jason smiled.

"I love it," Martha grinned and hugged Jason.

"Our second lovely lady of the evening is the beautiful Kelsi Nielsen," Hailey announced as Jason and Martha walked back over to their friends.

Kelsi smiled as she confidently walked down the stairs to Ryan who took her hand, planting a kiss on her palm. Kelsi blushed slightly and smiled sweetly at Ryan.

Ryan slipped the corsage onto her wrist and handed her a small jewelry box.

Kelsi opened the box to reveal a gold bracelet.

"Oh my goodness Ryan, this is beautiful. Thank you so much," Kelsi blushed.

Ryan smiled, "I figured you could use something that would further highlight your beauty. Plus it will be a great reminder of the night."

Kelsi smiled gratefully as Ryan lifted the delicate bracelet from the box and gently clipped it around Kelsi's delicate wrist.

Kelsi's smile widened as she looked at the bracelet around her wrist.

"It's a charm bracelet, so you can add to it whenever something really great happens that you don't want to forget," Ryan said as he clipped a small charm of a dancer onto the bracelet.

Kelsi felt like she could cry, this night was already going amazingly.

Jason looked down, he felt like he'd failed in getting Martha the best gift.

"Jason I have enough jewelry that I don't wear. I love photos, you got me the best present for me, for who I am," Martha told him.

"Really?" Jason asked uncertainly.

"Absolutely," Martha smiled, she kissed his cheek, trying to reassure him.

"Now I hate to brag but the next beauty is my stunningly beautiful little sister and she looks absolutely fantastic tonight. The one and only Taylor McKessie," Hailey grinned.

Taylor felt her heart skip a beat as she took hold of the railing, she was more nervous than she was willing to admit.

Chad felt his palms start to sweat as he waited for Taylor at the bottom of the stairs. He couldn't believe how nervous he suddenly felt.

Chad's parents were stood just to the side of the stairs, John holding the video camera recording the moment.

Hailey was holding her phone on video mode, recording the moment for her parents and Andrea had her phone ready to take lots of photos.

Taylor walked slowly down the stairs and towards Chad who held his hand out for hers before she was on flat ground again.

Taylor took Chad's hand as she descended the last few steps.

Chad kissed Taylor's hand before pulling her close.

Taylor wrapped her arms around Chad's neck as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

They shared a short, soft, loving kiss.

When they pulled apart Chad took Taylor's hand and slipped the corsage on her wrist.

Taylor felt tears in her eyes, Chad had found Taylor's favourite flower to make the corsage with.

"How?" Taylor asked in shock.

"I had to beg the lady who made it to use Frangipani's," Chad told her.

"I love it," Taylor smiled, tears still glistening in her eyes.

Chad smiled and kissed Taylor's cheek before handing her a small jewelry box.

Taylor looked at him in surprise, "what's this?"

"Something for you to always remember this night," Chad told Taylor softly.

Taylor opened the lid to the jewelry box and revealed a gorgeous gold chain with a heart shaped pendant that had diamonds sitting in outline of the heart and a purple amethyst sitting in the middle of the outline.

Taylor now had tears streaming down her cheeks, "I love it, Chad it's beautiful."

Chad smiled and gently wiped the tears from Taylor's cheeks, "I'm glad you like it."

Chad carefully removed the necklace from the box and clasped it around Taylor's neck.

It was as if Taylor's dreams were all coming true at once.

Taylor looked down at the pendant hanging from the chain that now hung around her neck and held it in her hand as though it were made of glass and could break at any moment.

Chad smiled lovingly at Taylor as she looked back up at him.

Taylor smiled adoringly back at Chad.

"Alright come on now, it's photo time," John said.

Taylor and Chad were pulled out of their trance by the doorbell after John's words.

Kelsi's, Jason's, Martha's, and Ryan's parents had arrived to be apart of the festivities.

After welcoming the newcomers everyone headed outside.

Chad took Taylor's hand and they followed their friends and family out to the back patio which Andrea and Hailey had decorated with fairy lights to set a romantic but sweet mood for a gorgeous backdrop for the photos.

"Girls first, line up," Hailey ordered.

Taylor sighed, "Hailey you only did one semester of photography, you can't order us around."

"Taylor just get in line will you," Hailey groaned.

Taylor smirked but did as she was told.

Martha, Taylor, and Kelsi stood together, first in a line standing sideways and looking over to the camera. The second photo was the girls hugging and smiling widely. The third was not a photo though, they recorded a video for Gabriella. Everyone took photos but only Hailey recorded the video on Taylor's phone.

"Hey Gabi," Martha started.

"We hope you're having a great night with Troy," Kelsi continued.

"We wish you were here, we miss you lots," Taylor continued.

"We love you," Taylor, Martha, and Kelsi finished and blew kisses towards the camera.

Hailey saved the video on Taylor's phone and Taylor sent it on to Gabriella before they continued the photos.

"Boys, line up!" Hailey ordered.

Jason, Chad, and Ryan lined up, their first photo was them stood side-by-side with their arms by their sides. Taylor thought they looked awkward but they made it work. Their second photo was arms around one another like brothers.

"Alright couples next," Hailey informed them, "I need Martha and Jason first."

After they took three photos Kelsi and Ryan were next taking the same three photos.

Taylor and Chad were last to have their photos taken they took the same three photos plus one extra, they were after all the only 'couple' in the group. Their fourth photo was a cute one of Taylor in Chad's arms and kissing lovingly.

"Perfection!" Hailey squealed excitedly.

They all laughed at her excitement.

There was the sound of a car horn and they all realised that the limo had arrived.

The parents all rushed to the front yard to make sure that the limo driver didn't leave, the girls would take a while to get to their location, with their very high heels on they couldn't walk very quickly.

"Here we go," Chad said as he and Taylor led their friends to the front yard.

The six stood together in a circle, group hug.

"To the best night ever," Ryan grinned.

"To the best night," the other five agreed.

The girls grabbed their bags and took their partner's hands.

Together the six teens walked out to the front yard where their families were waiting for them.

The boys were taken aside by the girls fathers, except for Chad who was taken aside by Hailey, and given a warning that they had better look after their girls.

"Chad I know you and Tay have been together for over two years but I swear if you hurt her tonight or ever I will make you regret it for the rest of your life," Hailey warned.

Chad took the warning seriously, he'd seen Hailey practicing martial arts on more than one occasion and knew better than to cross her, not that he had any intention of ever hurting Taylor.

"I know you will Hails and I promise that I'll take care of Tay and I won't hurt her tonight or ever," Chad swore.

Hailey nodded, "good."

Meanwhile Taylor was stood between Chad's parents watching Hailey talking to Chad.

"I guarantee she's threatening to hurt him," Taylor sighed.

"Sweety if he hurt you she'd have back up I can promise you that," John said.

Andrea and Taylor looked at him in surprise.

"What? Taylor's the best thing that ever happened to our son, if he hurt her I'd be angry with him," John defended himself to his wife.

Andrea sighed, "I would be disappointed in him too dear but you are not going to physically harm our son. If Hailey were to that is her prerogative not ours."

"I don't think Chad would hurt me whether he wanted to or not, simply because Hailey might actually kill him," Taylor informed the couple.

"Of course I would," Hailey said as she came to stand in front of her little sister.

"I would never hurt you Tay," Chad said.

"I know," Taylor smiled.

The limo driver called for the teens to get into the limo if they wanted to make it to their prom in time.

"Have an amazing night and take lots of photos. I'll be here when you get home. I love you Tay," Hailey said as she hugged her sister tightly.

"Thanks Hails, I promise I will. I love you too," Taylor said hugging her sister back.

After they had all said their goodbyes to their families the six teens climbed into the limo, a shiny black hummer. The hummer had been organised by Chad's Dad who had a friend in the industry and managed to secure the last hummer in Albuquerque for the night.

Taylor's phone buzzed in her clutch bag as she sat beside Chad, his arm immediately resting around her shoulders.

Taylor opened her phone to see a text from Gabriella.

"Gabi just texted," Taylor said to get her friends attention.

They all looked at her in anticipation.

"Troy kinda liked the video but wants to know why he wasn't important enough to get a mention lol. I love the video, thank you so much Tay. I miss you all too and can't wait to see you all, hopefully for graduation, if I can get away from Stanford in time. Love you all, Gabi," Taylor read.

"Get a mention? Troy was mentioned," Martha pointed out.

Taylor laughed, "clearly Mr ego wanted more than that."

Chad chuckled, "trust me Troy was probably expecting that you were missing him too."

"Not really," Taylor, Martha, and Kelsi teased.

"Now that would hurt Troy's ego," Jason laughed.

"Troy Bolton has an ego?" Ryan asked jokingly.

"It used to be worse, Gabi definitely mellowed him out," Chad joked.

The drive to the high school, where the prom was being held in the school gym to keep the costs down, was filled with laughter and excitement as the girls prepared for the best night and the boys prepared to make sure that they had the best night.

The driver pulled up in front of the school behind many other limos.

"I will be back at 11:45pm," the driver informed the group as they got out of the hummer.

Chad and Taylor took the lead, leading their group to the open front doors of the high school.

The doors were decorated with big gold writing '2008 Senior Prom'. The halls leading to the gym had gold, silver, red, and white streamers decorating the walls. The halls that didn't lead to the gym were blocked off with red velvet rope dividers to prevent students from going where they weren't meant to be, all of the classroom doors were locked as well to deter students from sneaking out of the prom.

The arrived at the doors to the gym where Ms Darbus was sat at one table marking off the students names and checking their tickets before they could walk into the gym. Sat at a table opposite was Coach Bolton, Troy's Dad, and he was collecting money for raffle tickets, all money which would be going towards a charity of the seniors choice. The raffle would be drawn at the end of the night.

"Boys looking sharp, have you heard from Troy?" Coach asked as the girls got their names ticked off with Ms Darbus and they bought raffle tickets.

"No but Gabi texted Tay to let us know that he was with her so that's a good sign. It also seemed as though he might have convinced her to come back for graduation," Chad explained.

"Good, I'll have to let his mother know. Troy neglected to let us know that he had arrived there," Coach explained.

"Oh, I'll tell him to call," Chad offered.

"Thanks Chad, have a good night, looking lovely ladies," Coach said as the girls came over.

"Thanks Coach," Taylor, Kelsi, and Martha smiled.

Two unknown freshmen held open the doors for the six seniors as they walked into the gym hand-in-hand with their partners, Taylor and Chad again leading the way.

As they entered Chad nearly walked into more red velvet dividers which led them over to a starry night backdrop where a photographer took couple photos to commemorate their entrance. The dividers ensured that no one missed out on an entrance photo from the night.

Taylor had luckily been paying attention and managed to save her boyfriend from face planting the ground and taking the dividers with him.

After their photos the six looked around the gym and were in awe of the way it looked. It certainly didn't look like the same gym where the East High wildcats had won another championship weeks earlier.

There fairy lights hanging from the roof, there were fake trees around the room to create the illusion of a forest. The trees had fairy lights and plastic butterflies hanging from them. There were flower beds in various parts of the room that had red and white streamers around the boxes. There were also lanterns around the room to help the fairy lights to light the room up a little more. Some of the tables had silver lace table cloths, while others had gold lace table cloths. The silver tables had gold accessories, cutlery and fake flowers, while the gold tables had the same accessories in silver. Each chair had White material covering it, so that you couldn't see that they were plastic chairs, and a red ribbon tied around the back of it. The staff table had a red lace tablecloth and white accessories, cutlery and fake flowers. Their chairs were either gold or silver with the opposite colour ribbon tied around the back to create a pattern. The stage had fairy lights draped around the bottom. Each mic stand had red and white ribbon around it. The drum set had 'EH' for East High written on it in gold. The DJ's stand had fairy lights draped around it. There were four photo booths, one in each corner, one that was silver, one gold, one red, and one white. At the back of the room were also photo areas, one backdrop was of the front of the school, the other was a city landscape, both of which had a photographer waiting by them.

"Who would've thought the gym could actually look so nice," Jason spoke first.

"It's beautiful," Martha agreed.

"Ms Darbus certainly did a great job," Kelsi agreed.

"Sharpay would love the blinginess of it all," Ryan stated.

"I think it looks romantic, there's just enough sparkle to make this forest look like a romantic hideaway," Taylor smiled softly.

Chad squeezed her hand, "why don't we find our table then we can appreciate the room a bit more."

They all agreed.

They found their table easy enough, all they had to do was look for the hot pink dress that Sharpay was wearing and the hot pink tie that Zeke had the misfortune of wearing.

Each students name was written on a place card to signify where they were to sit at each table. Each name was written on a clear white sheet of plastic, in cursive with a red pen, that was attached to a gold piece of cardboard that had 'EH 2008 Senior Prom' written on the back in cursive using a silver pen.

The six seniors took their seats, the boys being gentlemen and holding the chairs out for the girls as they sat.

About ten minutes later the gym was full of seniors and all the tables were occupied.

Ms Darbus and Coach Bolton had joined the other staff members at the staff table which was at the front of the room just in front of the stage. The stage was home to the east high band and a DJ who were ready to play music for the seniors all night.

Principal Matsui was stood on the stage with the microphone and the room went silent.

"I would like to welcome all of the seniors to your high school prom!" Principal Matsui announced to cheers from the seniors and staff, "I would like to thank Ms Darbus and the prom committee along with the drama department for setting up the gym for this special occasion. I don't think the gym has ever looked so lovely so well done to all who took part," the seniors applauded, "I would also like to thank our photographer Mr Graham Nile who took your pictures on your arrival and will be taking pictures throughout the night with his team," more applause, "lastly I would like to thank our band and the DJ who plan to give you all a night to remember," cheering, "now if you will all take a look at your menus and decide which one of the two entrees, mains, and desserts you would like. There will be waiters coming around shortly to take your orders. After that please enjoy your night, dance, sing, whatever you like to your hearts content. We will be drawing the raffle at 11:30 so if you haven't already please see Coach Bolton to get your tickets. Have a wonderful night," Principal Matsui concluded to more applause and cheers.

There was a menu sat on the table in front of each student. The food choices were written on a clear silver sheet of plastic, in cursive using a gold pen, that was attached to a white piece of cardboard and had 'EH 2008 Senior Prom' written on the back in red pen.

The menu options were 'Entree; pumpkin soup or a traditional tossed salad, Main; steak or chicken parmigiana, Dessert; chocolate mousse or layered mocha cheesecake'.

Taylor and Chad decided to each order something different so that they could try everything on the menu. Despite not being in relationships their friends decided to do the same thing in their pairs.

After ordering the music was in full swing and people started to get up and make their way to the dancefloor or to the photo booths or to the photo areas.

Chad stood up and held his hand out to Taylor who gladly took it.

"We'll be in the photo booth," Chad informed their friends before they walked off.

Chad led Taylor to the silver photo booth, it had the shortest queue.

"So what poses are we pulling?" Taylor asked cheekily.

Chad grinned, "well I do need a new facebook profile pic so nothing too out there."

Taylor rolled her eyes, "we can take as many photos as we like my dear."

"Good point," Chad chuckled.

Before they could enter the photo booth, the attendant informed them that they had to vote for their choice for prom King and Queen.

Taylor chose Ryan and Kelsi for King and Queen. Chad also chose Ryan and Kelsi, not that they told each other.

After they had taken two sets of four photos Taylor and Chad got out of the booth to allow other people a chance.

Chad grabbed their two photo strips before they headed back to their table where Kelsi and Ryan were laughing at their own photo booth photos.

Kelsi and Taylor looked at all of their pictures and laughed at how ridiculous some were, awed at how cute and sweet others were, and glared at the boys for some of the ridiculous faces they had pulled while the girls had looked sophisticated.

Chad and Ryan just laughed at their partner's facial expressions.

"Where did the others disappear to?" Chad asked.

"Sharpay is currently dragging Zeke to every photo booth, photo set up area etcetera that she possibly can before entree is served. I believe that I saw Martha and Jason on the dancefloor at one point but I'm not sure where they are now," Ryan explained.

Chad nodded, "you know Zeke probably doesn't even care that he's being dragged around, he'll just be happy that Sharpay is touching him even if it is just his hand and only for a few seconds."

Ryan chuckled, "I guess it would be dumb to feel sorry for him in that case?"

"Not dumb just not particularly smart," Taylor offered.

"Anyone who can put up with Sharpay for longer than ten minutes deserves a medal," Kelsi declared.

"I think I deserve millions of dollars in that case," Ryan joked.

"Dude you deserve your own friggin' island!" Chad insisted.

"One that Sharpay has no way of accessing," Taylor added.

"That sounds like heaven, can we make that happen?" Ryan asked, the joking not as clear in his tone.

"Talking about heaven, you must be talking about a Sharpay free life," Martha stated as she and Jason retook their seats.

"How'd you guess?" Kelsi teased.

"Where did you two disappear to?" Chad asked.

"We danced and then hit up a photo booth," Jason explained, "I spotted Zeke, he looks like he's having the time of his life."

"Of course he does," Chad sighed.

Waiters suddenly began walking around with the entrees.

Moments after the wait staff had left the gym Principal Matsui took the stage to announce that entree had been served. Everyone who wasn't already at their tables rushed over to enjoy the food.

Sharpay and Zeke calmly made their way over despite Zeke being desperate to eat the food, he knew of the chef and desperately wanted to try his food.

After they took their seats, Sharpay looked at everyone at their table in disgust that they had started eating without her.

After everyone had finished their entrees Principal Matsui again took the stage and informed the seniors that the next song would be the waltz.

Taylor looked at Chad expectantly, Chad grinned.

As the previous song ended every senior that could waltz, including their entire table, stood and headed for the dancefloor.

Chad held Taylor's hand the entire way and once on the dancefloor they took the proper stances and began to waltz around the dancefloor in time with the other seniors.

Chad held Taylor closer as the waltz ended and a slower song came on.

Taylor wrapped her arms around Chad's neck as they swayed to the music. Chad's arms were securely around Taylor's waist. It was a perfect moment, Taylor loved dancing the waltz but nothing beat being wrapped in Chad's arms.

"Taylor there's something that I've been wanting to tell you but I could never find the right words or the right moment. Now seems like the right time," Chad began and Taylor looked into his eyes curiously, "Tay I love you. I really do. I know I should have said it when you did, I just I didn't want it to sound wrong. I wanted you to know it was true and believe it when I said it. I truly do love you Taylor McKessie more than you can possibly imagine."

Taylor felt the tears in her eyes slip down her cheeks, definitely ruining her makeup but she didn't care. With the stress of exams and then the chaos of organising the prom she had completely forgotten that she had confessed her love to Chad weeks ago. Hearing the words come from his mouth made her feel weak at the knees. Tonight was definitely a dream come true, for a moment she was able to forget that Gabriella and Troy were missing this amazing night. For a moment Taylor was able to be a girl in love and not the uptight held together girl that most of the people in the room knew. In that moment Taylor realised that she would never again be alone, there was someone who loved her more than words could express, the same as she loved him.

"I love you too Chad so so much," Taylor whispered as Chad wiped the tears from her cheeks.

Chad gently lifted Taylor's chin so that their lips could meet in an effortless dance.

As the song began to die out they slowly pulled apart.

Neither Chad nor Taylor thought that they had ever smiled as much as they were as they retook their seats with their friends.

Martha and Kelsi knew instantly that Chad had finally said the three words that Taylor had been desperate to hear. Zeke and Jason could tell that Chad had finally said the three words that he had been working towards being able to say for the last few weeks.

Before they could ask any questions however, Principal Matsui announced that the main meal was being served.

As if on cue the wait staff placed their main meals in front of them.

Chad had the steak while Taylor had the chicken parmigiana.

Chad cut off a piece of his steak for Taylor who cut off a piece of her chicken parmigiana for Chad.

Their friends watched on with smiles on their faces as Chad fed the piece of steak to Taylor and Taylor fed the piece of chicken parmigiana to Chad. It was a very cute couple moment.

After they had shared and finished their main meals they decided as a group to go to the photo areas and get some group photos taken, even Sharpay was in agreeance to be a part of it.

Chad and Taylor led their friends over to the night city landscape photo setup.

The photographer took a two photos of each couple, a serious and a random one. He then took two photos of the girls together, one serious and one random, then he did the same for the boys. Lastly he took four group shots, the first two featured the boys on their knees and the girls standing behind them, one serious and one random. The other two photos featured the boys standing behind the girls with their arms around their waists, a serious shot and then one random.

They all thanked the photographer and then had the same set of photos taken in front of the 'East High' background.

By the time that they were finished with the photos dessert was being served and they retook their seats to share and enjoy their desserts.

After they had eaten they all got onto the dancefloor with the other seniors and they danced for a long time. No one realised what time it was until Principal Matsui took the stage again this time to announce the prom King and Queen and announce the winners of the raffle.

Everyone returned to their seats as instructed so that they would hear the winners.

"First off I'll announce the winners of this year's raffle, we have four prizes. Fourth prize has been claimed by Mr David Hughes. Third prize has been taken out by Miss Martha Cox. Second prize belongs to Miss Amelia George. Lastly first prize belongs to Mr Chad Danforth. Can our winners please make your way to the stage to collect your prizes," Principal Matsui announced.

Chad and Martha laughed in shock as they headed to the stage.

"Did Jason put my name in?" Martha asked Chas as they waited to collect their prizes.

"Yep, we put our own names in twice but your names went in four times, none of us expected to win, we wanted you girls to win not us," Chad laughed.

They collected their prizes and sat back at their table.

Martha's basket contained beauty therapy essentials; bubble bath, bath bombs, bath salts, luxury soap, hand wash, body wash, and a voucher worth $200 for a spa day.

Chad's basket contained tickets for two to see a movie in Gold Class* and an $80 voucher for food and drinks. It also contained two boxes of chocolates, along with other snack foods. There was even a voucher that they could spend at any shopping centre in Albuquerque worth $300. There was also a remote control car, which was probably Chad's favourite part of the whole prize.

"Now I have the winners of a gift certificate to a local spa," Principal Matsui began again, "your prom King and Queen as voted by you on your entry to the photo booths are," the drummer gave a drum roll, "Mr Chad Danforth and Miss Taylor McKessie!"

The seniors all cheered and Taylor and Chad looked at their friends in shock as they stood and walked over to the stage where they each received a crown and a gift certificate.

"GO TAY!" Martha and Kelsi shouted over the cheering.

"GO CHAD!" Jason, Ryan, and Zeke shouted at the same time.

Sharpay looked annoyed and only clapped for a few seconds until Ryan gave her a look that clearly said 'be a team player for once'.

After being crowned Taylor and Chad had a photo taken and then they had to take the dancefloor and dance the final waltz of the evening. The photographers were taking their picture as they danced.

Taylor truly felt like a princess and couldn't believe that their fellow classmates thought of them as King and Queen of the prom. Chad watched Taylor carefully and saw how happy she was, he was just glad that he was able to help give her an incredible night to remember.

The song ended and Taylor and Chad made their way back to their table being cheered and applauded as they went.

"That concludes the senior prom. I hope that you all had a fantastic night. Your photos will be available on the website that is printed on the inside of your place cards at some point tomorrow. Have a lovely weekend and don't forget to come check out the spring musical featuring Ms Darbus homeroom seniors tomorrow night," Principal Matsui concluded the night.

All of the seniors filed out of the gym and towards the entrance of the school where the road was lined with limousines.

Chad had his prize basket in one arm while his other hand was clutched in Taylor's hand, her other hand holding on to her clutch which now contained their photo booth pictures, their menus and their place cards, mementos from the night.

As they reached their hummer Sharpay asked if she and Zeke could join them, they had offered their limo to another couple, one who didn't have a way to get home. Of course they all agreed.

The eight teens climbed into the hummer and the driver took them back to Taylor's house where all of the parents and Hailey were waiting on the front porch drinking their third cups of coffee, they hadn't left after the limo had taken their children. Hailey had ordered pizzas and they had had their own little party to celebrate their children making it to such an important milestone. The three cups of coffee were to help them all stay awake so that they could hear all about their children's night.

The eight seniors climbed out of the limo and thanked the driver before heading up to the front porch and their waiting families, who were surprised to see Sharpay and Zeke.

They spent the next hour recounting the night to their parents and Hailey. After that the parents decided that they should take their children home, Jason's parents offering to give Zeke a lift as he lived nearby them.

Chad's parents were the last to leave after making Chad and Taylor promise that they could drive them to the rehearsal for the musical later that day.

Hailey was going to a job interview so she wouldn't be able to take them anyway.

It was 3am by the time Taylor and Chad were able to get into their pyjamas and head to bed.

"Goodnight Tay, I love you," Chad whispered as Taylor rested her head on his chest.

"Good morning Chad, I love you too," Taylor whispered back.

They both smiled and drifted off to sleep.

That morning they dreamt of the amazing night that they had had and hoped that they would never forget how magical it had been.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I certainly loved writing it. I wish my prom had have been as lovely. As a side note yes I am aware that 'blinginess' is not a word but I couldn't think of anything better for Ryan to say in the moment, please forgive me. Look out for the next chapter coming soon :-)  
* Gold Class in Australia is where you can see a movie in a smaller cinema theatre and sit in comfy recliner chairs. You can also order food from a menu and the wait staff will bring it to you at any time of your choosing during the movie. Drinks are also available. It's basically seeing a movie in complete luxury. The only condition is you must be 18 years or older or accompanied by an adult. I know that this takes place in America but I wasn't sure what the American equivalent was.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Hailey woke Taylor and Chad at 10am.

Due to all of the changes that Ms Darbus had been forced to make they were having rehearsals from 1:30pm onwards until show time. Much to Chad and Taylor's annoyance, they had planned to spend the majority of the day relaxing after the full on prom day/night.

Chad's parents were picking them up at 11:30am for lunch before the rehearsal day.

"Come on you two it's time to get up!" Hailey called as she walked into the room.

Taylor grabbed her pillow and held it over her face trying her best to ignore her sister's voice.

Chad pulled the covers up over his face also trying to ignore Hailey's voice.

Once Hailey realised that she wasn't getting anywhere with words she grinned evilly and jumped on the bed between the couple.

"HAILEY!" Taylor yelled and hit her sister with her pillow.

"GET OUT!" Chad yelled as he also hit Hailey with a pillow.

"You do know that pillows don't hurt me, right?" Hailey laughed.

"HAILEY GET OUT!" Taylor and Chad both shouted.

Hailey rolled her eyes, "ok, fine. You both might want to get a move on though. Chad's parents will be here in just over an hour to take you to lunch."

"An hour?" Taylor shrieked.

"Yeah genius! Why else would I be in your bed?" Hailey said exasperatedly.

Taylor glared at her sister.

"Oh right, I forgot that you're not a morning person," Hailey sighed as she slid to the bottom of the bed, "if you're not up in ten minutes I'll be back," Hailey warned as she left the room.

Taylor groaned.

Chad pulled her close, "I guess we have to get up."

"Yeah I guess so," Taylor sighed.

They shared a quick kiss before Taylor got up to have a shower. Chad glared at the still open bedroom door and decided that he better grab a health food breakfast bar for each of them to serve as their breakfast before lunch.

Chad walked down the stairs and heard Hailey giggling from the kitchen, Hailey never giggled.

Chad quietly walked into the hallway near the kitchen to listen.

Hailey was video chatting with a guy that she met last year and had been dating ever since, not that her family knew. Little did she know that Chad was watching and trying to figure out what she was doing.

"I haven't told Tay yet, she's my baby sister Mike, she'll be devastated. I can't tell her now, she just had her prom last night, I'm not going to drop this bombshell yet. I promise that I will be home on Tuesday, I'll tell her on Monday after graduation," Hailey said.

Chad frowned confusedly wanting to know what she was talking about.

"I know Hails, I'm sorry for being pushy. My boss needs to know if I'm going to take the job or not and I told him that I needed to make sure that you were coming with me first," the guy, Mike, said.

"I'm sorry baby. I'll tell her before I get home I promise," Hailey said.

"Don't apologise Hailey, I love you. I've spoken to my boss, he's giving me until Wednesday to make my decision," Mike said.

"I love you too, I promise that you'll know before I get on the plane on Tuesday," Hailey said.

Chad decided that would be his cue to enter the kitchen before Taylor came looking for him as he heard the water from the shower cut out.

Chad walked straight to the pantry without hesitation and grabbed two breakfast bars.

Hailey was pretending to be busy on her computer but Chad knew that she was probably messaging the guy to tell him not to talk verbally over their chat cause he was there.

"Did you want one?" Chad asked Hailey as he walked out of the pantry holding up the two bars.

"No thanks," Hailey said, "shouldn't you be getting ready? Your parents will be here in thirty minutes."

"Yeah I know I'm going, just wanted to get something to eat," Chad said as he quickly headed back up the stairs when he heard Taylor call his name.

"Hey, where'd you go?" Taylor asked as she pulled her jumper over her head.

Chad held up the breakfast bars, "thought I'd get us some fuel before lunch."

Taylor smiled gratefully, "oh good, I'm starved."

Chad chuckled, "me too."

They both laughed and ate the breakfast bars before Chad headed for the shower.

Taylor grabbed a bag and put a spare pair of shoes each into it. Their clothing for the show was sitting backstage at the school, however Ms Darbus insisted that they provide their own shoes. Taylor was wearing a simple t-shirt, jeans, and a jumper. Chad was going to be wearing similar clothing.

They were both ready and headed straight downstairs just as the doorbell rang.

"Are you two ready?" Hailey yelled as she walked to answer the door.

"We're right here Hails," Taylor grinned as her sister jumped, having not expected them to be there.

Hailey opened the door to Chad's Mum who smiled at the three.

"You two ready to go?" Andrea asked.

"Sure are," Chad grinned, still happy about scaring Hailey.

"I'll see you at the show tonight," Hailey said as she hugged Taylor.

Taylor and Chad headed to the car with Andrea.

John drove them to a local restaurant that they all enjoyed going to and where they shared great memories.

After a lovely lunch they headed to the school where Taylor and Chad quickly went to the auditorium, grateful that they weren't late for rehearsals. Lunch had lasted longer than they planned, finishing at 1:30pm. When they entered the auditorium Ryan and Kelsi were looking like they wanted to go to sleep for the rest of their lives.

"Sharpay kept us up all night wanting to rehearse. She still wants Troy to fall for her," Ryan explained to Chad and Taylor as he yawned.

"Us?" Chad asked.

"Yeah, Sharpay talked my parents into letting me stay the night at their house. Normally it would have been nice but it certainly wasn't. That's not your fault Ryan," Kelsi quickly added.

"I agree Kels, she just doesn't care. She turned what could have been a lovely morning into hell. My parents are used to the late night rehearsals so they didn't care either," Ryan sighed as he squeezed Kelsi's hand.

"At least you got to spend time together," Taylor offered.

"Yeah, that's the only good thing," Kelsi informed them.

"Agreed," Ryan said.

"Attention. Now that Mr Cross has finally decided to grace us with his presence let's begin rehearsals," Ms Darbus ordered.

The seniors all sighed, their dreams from last night were starting to vanish to be replaced with the hell of rehearsals.

"Ms Darbus we're still missing a very important person," Sharpay interrupted, "where's Troy?"

Ms Darbus sighed, "I have spoken with Mr Bolton who has assured me that he will be here for the start of show."

"That's just not good enough Ms Darbus, how are we meant to practice our scenes without him?" Sharpay questioned in her high pitched, no nonsense voice.

"We will make do. In the meantime Mr Danforth can take Mr Bolton's place. Now places everyone we have a show to rehearse," Ms Darbus announced.

Taylor looked at Chad uncertainly, Chad looked at Taylor in horror. This was NOT how they had expected their day to go.

"Ms Darbus your honour I really don't think that that is a good idea!" Chad called as he rushed over to her.

"Mr Danforth if you wish to be a part of this evening's show you will play Mr Bolton's role for the day," Ms Darbus stated.

Taylor rolled her eyes, today was going to be a long day.

Kelsi took Taylor's hand and led her to the piano, "if you're going to be forced to watch HER act like she's in love with Chad all day you might as well be comfortable."

Taylor smiled, "thanks Kels. It's a good thing SHE isn't actually in love with Chad, I might have to kill her."

Kelsi laughed, "Tay I have no doubt that you would."

Ryan dragged Chad onto the stage, "you don't actually have to dance with her, just be difficult and Ms Darbus will make me do it. If it'll make it easier just look at Taylor, Kelsi has her sitting at the piano with her. It'll be over soon enough."

"Not soon enough," Chad grumbled, "why did I ever convince Troy to go and get Gabi?"

"Because you're a good friend," Sharpay smiled, "everyone deserves to have a friend like you Chad."

Sharpay sidled up to Chad.

Unlike Troy who would blush and awkwardly try to get away, Chad pushed Sharpay away.

"Don't try your tricks on me Sharpay, I'm not Troy and I have no intention of allowing you to push me around like you do to him. Got it?" Chad snapped.

Sharpay looked taken aback but recovered quickly, "let's just get to rehearsing shall we?"

Chad just frowned.

"Alright, now it's time to rehearse 'I Just Wanna Be With You'. For the purposes of this rehearsal Chad will be filling in for Troy. Let's begin shall we," Ryan announced, leaving no room for argument.

Chad desperately looked at Taylor the entire time, Taylor tried to give him a reassuring smile but it wasn't working out so well, Sharpay was getting on Taylor's nerves, as much as Chad's.

"Mr Danforth I know that you will not be playing Mr Bolton's role this evening whether he is here or not but for the sake of this rehearsal will you please act like Mr Bolton would," Ms Darbus sighed for the third time in the last hour.

"Ms Darbus I would be happy to play Troy's part if I were acting with Taylor. I can't do this with Sharpay, she doesn't even act like Gabriella, she's a bad cast," Chad tried, it was the third time that he had rephrased his sentence in the last hour.

"I will allow you and Miss McKessie to rehearse the scene together only to allow Miss Evans the chance to change her attitude towards the situation," Ms Darbus finally conceded.

Chad grinned and Taylor smiled shaking her head.

Ryan and Kelsi were thrilled knowing that they would finally be getting a chance to rehearse the song without any interruptions and without having to deal with Sharpay for at least four minutes.

Chad quickly jumped off the stage and moved around to take Taylor's hand and lead her up to the stage.

Chad and Taylor rehearsed 'I Just Wanna Be With You' exactly as Gabriella and Troy would. The love between them was obvious and they were able to give their fellow cast members a true understanding of what love is. Their performing highlighted the key point of the song, that one can not be without the other that their love for one another was infinite.

Even Ms Darbus was speechless for a moment after watching them.

"Bravo, now that is how this song should be performed," Ms Darbus smiled.

"Take five everyone we'll rehearse 'A Night to Remember' next," Ryan decided.

"Don't forget that I have changed the performance to be Tiara as Sharpay with our male dancers," Ms Darbus reminded the seniors.

Taylor and Chad got off of the stage and sat in the audience to await their next rehearsal.

"That was actually kinda fun, I can understand why Troy is struggling with his college decision," Chad said.

Taylor smiled proudly at him, "I'm proud of you. I know that you'll be disappointed if Troy doesn't choose U of A but at least now you can understand why if he chooses another college."

"Yeah. Well as long as we can still play basketball together or against each other I'll be right," Chad agreed.

Taylor kissed him softly, "I love you."

Chad smiled after kissing her back, "I love you too Tay."

The five minute break was over and Tiara was rehearsing her role as Sharpay for the newly made 'A Night to Remember'.

"So I guess the fun that we had making this number was for nothing in the end, it's all about Sharpay again, well Tiara," Martha sighed as she sat beside Taylor.

"At least we had a real prom," Taylor smiled, although she was also disappointed about how the day was going.

At 5:30pm they had just finished doing a full dress rehearsal. Ms Darbus dismissed the seniors to go backstage and prepare for their opening numbers, asking them to get in their costumes ready for their first scenes.

Backstage Taylor and Chad were starting to worry about where Troy and Gabriella were. They were meant to be here by now. The doors would open at 6pm for the show to begin at 6:30pm.

Taylor texted Troy at 6:40pm when Chad was on stage for the opening number.

At 7pm she received a reply from Troy, 'we're on our way, be there soon.'

Chad sighed, "we can only hope he'll be here before 'I Just Wanna Be With You'. I don't think anyone wants to see Sharpay perform with 'Rocket Man'."

"You know what that could actually be worth it, it could be very entertaining," Taylor grinned at the idea.

Chad chuckled, "good point."

7:15pm came and it was time for Sharpay to take the stage, she was still oblivious and believed that Troy was joining her.

Taylor and Chad watched Sharpay standing on the stage expectantly waiting for Troy. Then 'Rocket Man' stepped on the stage and Taylor had to try to hold in her laughter, it was not an easy feet as they watched the performance from the side of stage.

Chad laughed openly and they walked away to find out where their friends were.

No less than ten minutes later they heard Troy's voice singing 'I Just Wanna Be With You' and then they heard Gabriella. Taylor grabbed Chad's hand and they ran over to where Ryan was standing at the side of the stage.

Taylor felt her heart swell and she smiled widely as she watched her best friend confessing her love to the man of her dreams on stage in front of a sold out audience. Chad grinned as he watched his best friend confess his love for the girl of his dreams on stage in front of a sold out audience.

Chad even started to move his hands in the actions that Troy was doing on stage. When they nailed the moves Ryan cheered, all his hard work was being turned into a masterpiece right before his very eyes.

Troy spun himself and Gabriella out away from one another and the seniors and backup cast members made their way to the stage to stand behind the windows and door.

"All I wanna do is be with you," the cast sang.

Troy opened the fake door and Taylor was first through going straight to Gabriella and hugging her tightly.

Gabriella hugged Taylor back just as tight, it was obvious that they had missed on another even if it had only been a couple of weeks.

Ryan was next to hug Gabriella, then Taylor hugged Ryan as Martha and Gabriella had a moment, "you did it," Taylor whispered to Ryan who smiled.

Jason and Zeke lifted Gabriella up and spun her around, once she was safely on the ground they kissed her cheeks and Chad hugged her from behind.

It was amazing what an impression just one person could make on so many others.

As Chad stood beside Taylor and wrapped an arm around her she realised that had it not been for Gabriella her and Chad would probably still be ignoring one another and only speaking in snarky tones.

Taylor held onto Chad's arm feeling grateful that because of Gabriella she had found the love of her life.

Chad held Taylor and silently thanked Gabriella for bringing them together. He didn't know how you could possibly thank a person enough for joining you with the love of your life, words certainly weren't enough.

Taylor and Chad both knew that they would be spending the rest of their lives trying to find ways to thank their best friends, after all if not for Troy Gabriella probably wouldn't have become such an important force in the school in such a short period of time.

"All that I wanna do is be with you," the cast repeated until Troy and Gabriella's last duet.

Taylor and Chad gazed lovingly into one another's eyes as they repeated the words, singing them to one another and no one else.

Chad put an arm around Gabriella's shoulders as the song began to come to a close.

After the song ended they all bowed before leaving the stage.

Taylor and Gabriella hugged one another tightly.

"I'm so glad you came back," Taylor said softly.

Gabriella smiled, "me too. I missed you Tay."

"I missed you too Gabi," Taylor smiled.

"I missed you too Gabi, the rehearsals weren't the same without you. We missed you both at prom too," Chad informed.

Troy laughed, "dude you got prom King, did you really want me there to take it from you?"

"You really think you would have been prom King before me?" Chad questioned.

"Absolutely, you're forgetting that I was voted team captain by our peers," Troy bragged.

Taylor and Gabriella quickly got between them before things could escalate.

"Troy be happy for them," Gabriella warned.

"Chad it doesn't matter. The point is we won. Who knows what would have happened if they were there but they weren't so it doesn't matter," Taylor said sternly.

"Fine," Troy and Chad grumbled.

Next thing they knew the boys were laughing about something.

Taylor and Gabriella rolled their eyes at their boyfriend's antics.

They heard the music for 'A Night to Remember' start and debated going into the wings to watch. That was until they heard Sharpay on stage.

They quickly ran into the wings beside Ryan to watch.

It was starting to get out of hand how ridiculous Sharpay was making herself look beside Tiara so Ryan pressed a button on his stage control panel that took the section of stage that they were on underneath the stage.

Taylor, Chad, Gabriella, Troy, and Ryan openly laughed at the ridiculousness of the whole scene. It was certainly an interesting way to end the actual performance part of the show.

Ms Darbus was standing backstage so that when everyone turned away from the wings they would see her.

"Seniors please get your red robes on, everyone else there are white robes for you. Hurry up people we have a finale to put on," Ms Darbus ordered.

The seniors quickly rushed to their change rooms to find the red robes, that they would also be wearing for graduation the following day, that they were to wear on stage when Ms Darbus announced which college they each would be attending the following year.

The seniors then lined up on stage, three rows of white robed students stood in front of them. Everyone swayed to the music as the white robed students sung.

Ms Darbus stood by her announcers block, "ladies and gentlemen our seniors," she announced.

The seniors walked between the other students to come to stand in front of them.

"Kelsi Nielson, the Juilliard school scholarship recipient, music," Ms Darbus announced to a standing ovation.

Taylor smiled over at her friend, she was really proud of Kelsi, after all the hard work she had put in her dream was coming true.

"Jason Cross, you did it, you graduated," Ms Darbus continued proudly.

Taylor laughed as Jason jumped at Zeke, who nearly fell onto Chad.

"Taylor McKessie, Yale University with honours, political science," Ms Darbus smiled.

Taylor moved forward and clicked her fingers proudly, this is what she had been working towards her entire life, Yale and politics.

Chad smiled proudly at Taylor, he knew how hard she had worked and he couldn't be prouder of her for following her dream, even if it meant that they would be spending at least the next three years over two thousand miles away from one another.

"And I am pleased to announce that due to the excellence displayed here this evening the Juilliard school has made an extraordinary decision, another senior is being offered a Juilliard scholarship. Congratulations Mr Ryan Evans, choreography," Ms Darbus announced excitedly.

The seniors all grinned at Ryan, they were all very happy for him, he deserved it, not only for his excellent work with this production but also for putting up with Sharpay for so long.

"And congratulations Miss Sharpay Evans, University of Albuquerque, performing arts. Miss Evans has agreed to return to East High next fall to assist me with running the drama department," Ms Darbus continued happily.

The seniors all looked at Sharpay and shook their heads.

"Always gotta be the centre of attention," Chad whispered to Taylor who nodded and rolled her eyes.

"That she does," Taylor sighed.

"And now a senior who I believe has a decision to make, Mr Troy Bolton, Troy" Ms Darbus indicated Troy to allow him to take the stage and announce his college decision.

Troy slowly stepped forward uncertainly.

Taylor quickly looked at Chad and could tell immediately that he knew that Troy wasn't planning to go to U of A anymore.

"I've chosen basketball," Troy began, earning applause, "but I've also chosen theatre," the crowd stood up at that point and Troy's confidence to continue sky rocketed as he explained his decision, "the University of California, Burkley, offers me both. That's where I'm going to be attending next fall."

At that point Taylor could tell that Chad wasn't exactly happy, it wasn't that he was angry, more disappointed that Troy hadn't told him about his uncertainty.

Chad wished that Troy had spoken to him, it wasn't like he himself was looking forward to going to U of A and being over two thousand miles from Taylor but he thought that he would have his friend there to go through the motions with him.

Now Chad was doubting his own decision to go to U of A, if Troy could choose to be closer to Gabriella, why didn't he choose to be closer to Taylor?

Troy's speech ended talking about Gabriella which only made it harder for Chad to stay. While he could see that the audience was distracted Chad ran off the stage and headed for the gym, he needed to clear his head.

"Next Mr Chad Danforth, University of Alburquerque, basketball scholarship," Ms Darbus announced.

Taylor moved closer to Troy, grabbing his arm to get his attention, "he's gone," Taylor said softly.

Troy looked around and knew instantly where Chad was, he ran off stage himself to go to the gym.

Andrea caught Taylor's eye and motioned if she knew where Chad had gone to, Taylor simply shrugged and looked worried.

Andrea gave her a reassuring smile, hoping that Taylor believed that she wasn't worried herself, even though she was.

Taylor watched as John spoke to Coach Bolton, Taylor just hoped that they knew where Chad was and that he was okay.

Coach Bolton left the auditorium and headed to the gym, happy to find the boys playing a bad game of one-on-one.

When Chad and Troy were both back on stage Ms Darbus continued her announcements.

"Mr Chad Danforth, University of Albuquerque, basketball scholarship," Ms Darbus announced.

This time Chad stepped forward and accepted the applause that followed.

Taylor took Chad's hand once he stepped back beside her. Chad gratefully squeezed Taylor's hand in return, letting her know that he was okay.

"Miss Martha Cox, American University College of Arts and Sciences, dance and biology," Ms Darbus continued.

Martha did a little dance as she stepped forward, which the audience appreciated.

"Our final senior from this evenings performance, Mr Zeke Baylor, The Culinary Institute of America New York, culinary arts," Ms Darbus concluded her announcements.

Zeke stepped forward proudly as he was applauded.

"Will you all join me in congratulating our graduating class of 2008 on a wonderful performance," Ms Darbus spoke, the audience cheered and applauded, "this fine group of young performers will be graduating on Monday and we all hope that you will be able to attend. Until then, if you enjoyed this evenings performance there are still tickets available for tomorrow nights performance. Until then goodnight and thank you for coming," Ms Darbus concluded.

The curtains closed and the seniors were all congratulating Kelsi and Ryan on their scholarships. Then the realisation hit that they had to perform tonights show again tomorrow night, the only person who seemed happy about it was Sharpay, and that was only because Tiara would be kicked out of the performance with Gabriella now being available to do her duet with Troy. It also meant that 'Rocket Man' was no longer needed.

For the time being they could celebrate their successes and then be ready to hopefully have a smoother running show the following evening.

Taylor received a text from her sister to invite the seniors over for a celebration, that she was already inviting their parents.

"Hey guys, my sister is inviting everyone over to our house to celebrate if you want to come," Taylor announced to the seniors who were all still crowded in one area.

They all agreed and after getting out of their robes they left the stage to where their families were waiting for them and were ready to party at Taylor's house, technically Hailey doesn't live there so it's not technically her house.

Sharpay reluctantly tagged along, only because her parents insisted that if they were going, and Ryan was going then she had to as well.

The celebrations lasted a few hours mostly the parents and Hailey expressing how proud they were and the seniors enjoying their last party together before they graduated in two days.

"To the class of 2008 congratulations on a fantastic show, may tomorrow be more successful and good luck for your graduation day," Hailey announced.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Today was the day that the East High senior class of 2008 would be graduating.

Taylor was woken by some unknown person shaking her awake.

"Come on Tay, there's someone really important waiting for you downstairs," Taylor heard Hailey.

"I'll go down later," Taylor yawned.

"What you don't want to see your parents, after we spent the entire weekend trying to get here in time for you graduation," a male voice said.

Taylor recognised the voice, her sleep filled brain had a hard time putting a face to the voice. Until….

"Daddy!" Taylor squeaked as she jumped out of bed and into her father's waiting arms.

Joseph laughed as he hugged his youngest daughter tightly.

"Missed you too baby girl," Joe said.

Taylor smiled, "I missed you a lot Dad. You missed prom night."

"I know baby but we actually picked up a client on Friday, for a last minute trial on Saturday. A colleague recommended us. We wanted to be here," Joe explained.

"It's okay, I understand work is important," Taylor smiled.

"Not as important as our girls," a female voice said from behind them.

Taylor smiled, "Mum!"

Georgia laughed, "so your father gets 'Daddy' and I get 'Mum'?"

Taylor laughed, "I missed you Mummy," she smiled as she hugged her mother.

"That's better. I missed you too princess," Georgia smiled hugging her daughter back.

"Now are you going to show us your prom pictures?" Joe asked.

"Didn't Hailey send them to you?" Taylor asked.

"Of course she did but we want to look at them with you," Georgia smiled.

Taylor grinned and grabbed her laptop, her parents sat on either side of her on the bed and Hailey sat beside Georgia.

Taylor pulled up the pictures from the prom, the ones that Hailey took throughout the day and night plus those taken at the prom.

The four sat there for an hour looking through the photos and commenting on them.

"Oh baby you looked gorgeous," Georgia smiled as she squeezed Taylor's hand.

"Chad cleaned up good too," Joe commented.

"He looked dashingly handsome," Taylor agreed.

"You made the perfect pair," Hailey complimented.

Taylor smiled gratefully.

Joe looked at the clock on Taylor's side table, "well we better get ready, gotta be at the school in an hour."

Taylor gasped, "okay, everyone out, I have to get ready!"

Taylor's family laughed but left the room.

Taylor had a shower and got ready, her phone started ringing as she headed downstairs to have breakfast with her family.

"Hey," she answered.

"Hey, ready to leave East High?" Chad asked.

"I'm not actually so sure," Taylor responded.

"You're ready to leave just not ready to say goodbye to everyone," Chad said.

Taylor laughed, "yeah. Except it's not really goodbye we can still all catch up and besides we have the party at Troy's after graduation."

"This is very true," Chad agreed.

"Taylor come on, you need to eat before you graduate!" Georgia shouted from the kitchen.

Taylor sighed, "I'll see you soon. I love you."

"I love you too. I'll see you soon," Chad smiled.

Taylor hung up and walked into the kitchen for her last family breakfast as a high school senior.

They arrived at the school with ten minutes to spare before the graduation celebration began.

Taylor went and found her friends while her family went to take their seats with Chad's parents.

"Hey Tay, you ready?" Gabriella asked as the two hugged.

"Hey Gabi, I suppose so. How about you Miss Valedictorian?" Taylor teased.

"Yeah I guess. You had a hand in me getting Valedictorian didn't you," Gabriella sighed.

"Gabi how on Earth would I manage that?" Taylor questioned.

"You purposely got 96's didn't you," Gabriella accused.

"Gabi you changed all of us when you came to East High. It's partly my way of thanking you. If you hadn't have come to East High Chad and I probably wouldn't be together now. I can't thank you enough for that. Take it as a good thing, don't think of it as a negative," Taylor explained her motives.

"Tay you would've been together whether I was here or not," Gabriella tried, not willing to accept full responsibility.

"Taylor's right, if it weren't for you Gabi we probably wouldn't have gotten together," Chad said as he wrapped his arms around Taylor from behind.

"I doubt that," Gabriella tried again.

"Sorry to disappoint you Gabi, they hated each other before you helped bring them together. I would have been the star basketball player with no idea that he enjoyed singing if not for you. Chad would've been my right hand man who tormented Taylor if he ever acknowledged her. Taylor would have been the brainiac who thought that Chad was just another dumb jock. You changed us all," Troy explained.

"I was just a girl in the back trying to get my work noticed," Kelsi added as she joined them, along with Ryan, Jason, Martha, and Zeke.

"We all changed because of you Gabi, you let us all come out of our shells and be the real people that we are rather than what everyone else wanted us to be," Zeke agreed.

Chad took Taylor's hand and led her away from the group as they continued talking about the things that Gabriella had done for all of them.

"So after graduation do you want to go out to dinner?" Chad asked.

Taylor smiled, "hunny we have a party to attend after graduation."

"It'll be over by 6pm we can out after that, dinner and movie?" Chad negotiated.

"Okay sounds good," Taylor smiled.

The seniors were all called together to make a procession to their seats.

Principal Matsui gave his opening speech and then the seniors were called one by one to receive their diplomas. All except for Troy Bolton.

After the seniors were once again seated Principal Matsui presented Gabriella with her Valedictorian medal and invited her to give a speech.

"I am honoured to have received this commendation. I would like to thank the teachers and staff of East High for helping me to get here. I would also like to thank my friends and peers for the support in getting me here. Thank you East High," Gabriella said gratefully.

Principal Matsui then announced that Troy Bolton had been chosen by the senior class to represent them in a final farewell speech to the school on behalf of them.

Troy took the stage, "East High is a place where teachers encouraged us to break the status quo, to define ourselves as we choose. Where a jock can cook up a mean creme brulee. Where a brainiac can break down on a dancefloor. It's a place where one person, if it's the right person, changes us all. East High is having friends that we'll keep for the rest of our lives. And I guess that means that we really are all in this together. Cause once a wildcat, always a wildcat. Thank you."

Everyone cheered for Troy as he was handed his diploma.

They had done it, they had graduated.

Chad pulled Taylor into his arms and spun her around as they laughed, it had happened, all the studying that Taylor had forced him to do had paid off and now they were going off to college.

Ms Darbus had arranged for the seniors to put on one more dance performance at their graduation before they left East High.

So as the band began to play the seniors moved into their routine.

The crowd was eating up their performance, absolutely loving it.

Chad and Taylor began their part of the routine and sung together in perfect harmony.

"Now we've finally realized, who we are it just took some time. We had to live and to learn, to see the truth!" Chad and Taylor sung, "Nothing's ever impossible, into the future we all free fall."

After the performance the seniors all took their final bow to the cheering and applause from the watching crowd.

The seniors all headed in different directions to find their families and head to the Bolton's home for the after party.

Taylor and Chad walked over to the stage where they saw their families waiting for them.

"That was amazing Tay," Hailey said as she pulled her sister into a tight hug.

"Thanks Hails," Taylor said returning her hug.

"You were both marvelous," Andrea said as she hugged her son.

"We couldn't be prouder of all that you have both accomplished in the last few years," Joseph said.

"Both of your futures are looking brighter," John agreed.

"Together we can do anything," Chad stated as he held onto Taylor's hand.

"Together we can do everything," Taylor amended as she squeezed Chad's hand.

Their parents pulled them into a group hug, with Hailey as well.

The families then decided to go to the Bolton's for the party.

Unlike the party after the championship game weeks ago Taylor and Chad were enjoying themselves, they weren't worrying about the future having been convinced by one another that they had a future together and that the time they would have to spend apart during the next few years would not be for nothing. They would spend as much time together as possible while they were in college. Chad would finish college in three years, Taylor in four. Their plan was to get through three years only seeing each other in person once a month then if Chad got drafted to the NBA he would choose a California team to be closer to Taylor. Then they would get a house together and after Taylor finished college they would decide what to do next.

Taylor had talked their plan over with her Mum and Chad's Mum and they both agreed that it was a good plan, they would still be able to be together they would just have to wait a while. It would be the ultimate test to their relationship and allow both of them to see if the relationship was still what they wanted.

Taylor and Chad were once again sitting on the swings.

"I love you Tay and I know that we're going to get through the next three years whatever it takes. I know that I don't want to have a life without you," Chad said as Taylor slowed her swing down, wanting to talk to Chad herself.

"I love you too Chad and we'll make it through this, I know that we will. Together we can do anything and everything remember," Taylor smiled.

"That's my point Tay, together we're stronger. I don't want to be without you. That's why," Chad began as he stood up and stood in front of Taylor holding her hand, "Taylor McKessie will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?"

A/N: Well that's the end for 'Sparks Fly' but I will be writing three more stories in this universe. The first two will be prequels to this story, High School Musical 2 then High School Musical, obviously with different names. Following that I will be writing a sequel to this story and maybe more after that. I love this universe and can't wait to write more for it. I hope that you all love it too. Look out for the first prequel coming either tomorrow or the following day. It will be called 'One Thing' :-) You'll have to wait a while to find out what happens next ;-) I promise to try and get the two prequels done over the next few weeks so that you won't have to wait too long :-)


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